Vatican clerics have started clocking in for work for the first time since the 1960s.
The tiny state on the Tiber has issued new cards to all employees from the lowest office staff to the grandest heads of departments - even if they are priests or bishops.
The swipe cards have reportedly been received without complaint by the lay staff but some older clerics have been heard grumbling that Pope John XXII abolished timekeeping in the early '60s.
The fondly remembered 'good pope', a progressive, thought that keeping workers on the clock worked against the flexibility they needed.
According to reports out of the Vatican, elder clerics are complaining that clocking in and out is a headache when they have to leave the office on twice-weekly pastoral duty.
The timekeeping scheme is part of a new meritocracy drive at the Vatican, which is set to introduce performance-related pay next year.
