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What is the price of sainthood? Vatican officials made a startling discovery shortly after Pope Francis was elected in 2013: outside payments were routinely made to a small office in the Holy See to boost the prospects of a candidate for canonisation.

The overall cost to the Vatican involved in creating a new saint can be as high as €500,000 — and in one case hit €750,000 — because of the lengthy historical due-diligence involved in analysing a candidate's suitability, including whether he or she has performed any miracles.

But those external contributions from individuals or groups — worth up to €40,000 — helped speed up the process. The trouble is they were often kept off the books and unaccounted for by the so-called postulators who worked in the sainthood office.

Vatican officials were forced to take the dramatic step of freezing the postulators' accounts after they refused to hand over any documents.