Pope Francis has appointed eight cardinals and seven lay people as members of the new Vatican Council for the Economy.
The members of the council are from throughout the world, reflecting the universality of the Church.
Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising in Germany, is the council’s coordinator.
The other cardinal members come from the United States, South Africa, Mexico, Peru, France, Hong Kong and Italy.
The council’s lay membership includes experts in financial matters from various parts of the world, including Europe, Canada and Singapore.
The council will determine policies to be implemented by the new Secretariat for the Economy at the Vatican, headed by Australian Cardinal George Pell.
This secretariat will have authority over all economic and administrative activities within the Holy See and the Vatican City State.
Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, described the new council’s constitution as “a key step towards the consolidation of the current management structures of the Holy See”.
It has the aim of “improving coordination and oversight of economic and administrative matters”, Fr Lombardi said.
“The council is understood to be a body having the authority to act, and is not a mere advisory body of the Secretariat of Economy,” he added.
The first meeting for the council is scheduled for May, although preparatory work will begin immediately.
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