Pope fires entire board of Vatican financial watchdog

Pope Francis (2nd R) arrives to lead the funeral service of cardinal Simon Lourdusamy in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican June 5, 2014. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis sacked the five-man board of the Vatican's financial watchdog on Thursday - all Italians - in the latest move to break with an old guard associated with a murky past under his predecessor.

The Vatican said the pope named four experts from Switzerland, Singapore, the United States and Italy to replace them on the board of the Financial Information Authority (AIF), the Holy See's internal regulatory office. The new board includes a woman for the first time.