Pope Leo XIV starts to correct some of Francis’ more problematic financial decisions

Pope Leo XIV has begun correcting some of Pope Francis’ more questionable financial reforms and decisions, canceling a law Monday that had concentrated financial power in the Vatican bank.

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over a Mass for the Jubilee of Migrants and Missionaries in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025.

(AP Photo/ Alessandra Tarantino)

Leo abrogated the 2022 law that had decreed that management of the Holy See’s assets was the “exclusive responsibility” of the Institute of Religious Works, or IOR.

In his first-ever executive decree, Leo published a new law Monday that says the Holy See generally does use the IOR, but can turn to non-Vatican banks in other countries if the Vatican’s investment committee “deems it more efficient or convenient” to do so.

The law was the clearest sign yet that Leo is starting to fix some of Francis’ more problematic decisions and is recalibrating the Vatican’s centers of power, after Francis tended to lean heavily on the advice of the IOR and its top manager.