Vatican clerics now time clock workers

VATICAN CITY, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Clerics in Vatican City have begun using time clocks to track their work hours for the first time in approximately four decades, the Vatican says.

The Vatican said clerics' use of time clocks for the first time since the 1960s has not been greeted well by several elder clerics in Vatican City, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Monday.

Those senior clerics have argued that the workplace duty is an additional inconvenience when leaving for pastoral duty twice a week, the Vatican said.

The time-keeping effort was previously removed from Vatican City by Pope John XXIII, who felt time cards only served to limit staff flexibility on the job.

But the Vatican reimposed time clock regulations as part of an ongoing meritocracy drive aimed at raising performance-related pay, ANSA said.

The news agency said in addition to all Vatican clerics, all lower level through upper level Vatican workers are required to use time cards from now on.