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Pope Francis was hailed as a reformist when he became Pope in 2013. He vowed to get a handle on the scandals plaguing the Catholic Church, including overhauling how the Vatican managed its money. As part of his groundbreaking measures, in 2015, he appointed the Vatican's first ever Auditor General and gave him complete freedom to look into any area of the Vatican's finances. The man chosen for the job was former Deloitte CEO and chairman, Libero Milone. Along with his business partner, they went through the various Vatican departments checking the books, and say it wasn't long until they started coming up against resistance from the 'old guard.' In one Vatican office in particular, Milone claims he started to come up against strong opposition when trying to audit their accounts, eventually he claims being forced to resign because he was starting to uncover major financial irregularities and evidence of "Cardinals putting money into their own pockets."

A few years after he was forced out, a high ranking Cardinal from that same office, Angelo Becciu was found guilty in a Vatican court of embezzlement and fraud, for losing the Vatican over €100 million in a London property investment.

Now Milone is taking a €9.3m lawsuit against the Vatican for unfair dismissal, loss of income, and emotional distress. The case was thrown out by a Vatican court, but Milone is now appealing. Presenter Colm Flynn met Libero Milone in Rome to hear how he says he took on the job as a way of giving back to his Church, and, driven by his faith, wanted to help Pope Francis bring about greater accountability. We talk to Milone about how his faith was affected when he started to uncover evidence that a few Cardinals, those who vote for the next Pope, and from whom the next Pope will come, were taking money from the Church. How does one maintain their faith and believe in an institution when they uncover such things?

Producer/presenter: Colm Flynn
Series producer: Rajeev Gupta
Editor: Chloe Walker

(Photo: Pope Fracncis (L) and LIbero Milone (R) from Vatican Media)