Gozitan priest Mgr Alfred Xuereb, who had been private secretary to Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, has been appointed as non-voting secretary to the new board of the Vatican Bank.

Mgr Xuereb is already the secretary general of the new secretariat for economic affairs of the Vatican.

The new president of the bank is Frenchman Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, while among the board members there are Clemens Boersing (Germany), Mary Ann Glendon (USA) and Sir Michael Hintze (UK).