ROME - Along with the spiritual leadership of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, Pope Leo XIV now inherits oversight of the Vatican’s shoddy finances – and his predecessor’s efforts to clean them up.

The dire state of the Holy See accounts was among the topics cardinals tasked with choosing a successor to Pope Francis discussed ahead of the conclave, according to the Vatican.

Their pick, American Robert Francis Prevost – now Leo XIV – is likely to continue Francis’ push to bring some order, said the chairman of the Vatican’s bank, known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR).

“Francis has started the process, I’m sure Leo XIV will continue,” Mr Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, a French businessman who was appointed to the role by Francis in 2014 as part of a radical overhaul of the Holy See’s economic framework, told AFP.

The Vatican fills its coffers by running hospitals, museums, and owning a vast real estate portfolio, together with donations from the faithful.

Yet, its finances regularly run in the red.

In 2023, it reported a consolidated loss of almost €70 million (S$102 million) on revenue of €1.2 billion.

The Catholic Church’s economic affairs have long been murky and scandal-prone.

In a telling example, in 1982 the Banco Ambrosiano – a bank majority-owned by the IOR – collapsed amid accusations of money-laundering mafia money.

Its director, Mr Roberto Calvi, was found hanging that same year from London’s Blackfriars Bridge.

Resisting resistance

When Francis became pope in 2013, things were not much improved.

Italy’s central bank had recently suspended all bank card payments in the Vatican over its failure to implement anti-money laundering laws, and a year earlier the US had added the tiny city-state to its list of countries of concern for money-laundering.

In 2014, Francis created a special secretariat for the economy, clamping down on corruption and stepping up scrutiny of investments.

“There was no strong governance, the rules were not respected, we did not have the right competence,” Mr de Franssu recalled of his early days at IOR.

Francis once likened the effort fix and bring transparency to the books to “cleaning the Sphinx of Egypt with a t...