Pope Francis yesterday appointed economist Joseph FX Zahra to a new Vatican Council for the Economy, intended to improve scrutiny of the Holy See’s scandal-plagued accounts.

Mr Zahra is the founding partner and managing director of Misco, the independent consulting group that operates in Malta, Italy and Cyprus.

In July, Pope Francis appointed Mr Zahra chairman of a commission of inquiry he set up to look into the Vatican’s finances.

The seven non-religious figures in the council also include France’s Jean-Baptiste de Franssu – chairman of mergers and acquisitions advisory firm INCIPIT – University of Madrid economist Enrique Llano Cueto, German former McKinsey and Company partner Jochen Messemer, and Italian University of Messina Business Administration professor Francesco Vermiglio.

George Yeo, a former Singapore finance minister, was named on the council alongside retired oil executive John Kyle.

The council includes eight prelates from around the world, led by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising.

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