Following allegations of bullying and humiliation of employees, Pope Francis fired the entire leadership of the Roman Catholic Church's worldwide charity arm on Tuesday and appointed a commissioner to run it.

The executives of Caritas Internationalis (CI), a Vatican-based confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development, and social services organizations working in over 200 countries, were involved in the surprise move.

The resignations of CI's executive level, which has over a million staff and volunteers worldwide, were announced in a papal decree released by the Vatican press office.

According to a separate statement from the Vatican's development department, which oversees CI, a review of the workplace environment this year by external management and psychological experts discovered malaise and bad management practices at its headquarters.

Current and former employees told Reuters about cases of verbal abuse, favoritism, and general human resource mismanagement that had caused some employees to leave. CI is housed in a Vatican-owned building in Rome.

"No evidence of financial mismanagement or sexual impropriety emerged from the panel's work," the development office said in a statement.

According to a separate statement from the Vatican's development department, which oversees CI, a review of the workplace environment this year by external management and psychological experts discovered malaise and bad management practices at its headquarters.

Current and former employees told Reuters about cases of verbal abuse, favoritism, and general human resource mismanagement that had caused some employees to leave. CI is housed in a Vatican-owned building in Rome.

"No evidence of financial mismanagement or sexual impropriety emerged from the panel's work," the development office said in a statement.

"Real deficiencies in management and procedures were discovered, seriously undermining team spirit and staff morale," the report stated.

While "financial matters have been well-handled and fundraising goals have been consistently met," management norms and procedures needed to be improved, according to the report.

All questions were directed to the statement by a CI spokesperson.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who was nominally president of Caritas but was not involved in day-to-day operations, was among those affected by the decree. His primary role at the Vatican is to lead the Church's missionary arm.A cardinal has traditionally held the position of president.

Tagle, a Filipino widely regarded as a potential future pope, will step down as president but will continue in a new role to assist the commissioner in maintaining relations with national Caritas offices and preparing for the election of a new leadership next year.

The decree, according to two current Caritas insiders and one former staffer, was aimed at the management practices of the outgoing secretary general's office and the board.

According to the former employee, employees had left jobs in offices outside of Italy due to a culture of bullying, fear, and "ritual humiliation."

All members of the CI executive were lay people, with the exception of Tagle and one priest.