No PayPal for Papal vistors as Vatican goes 'cash only'

Visitors to the Vatican have been ordered to pay in "cash only" after Italy's central bank blocked card payments at the tiny city state following a money-laundering row.

The ban on electronic payments extends from museums to Vatican pharmacies, supermarkets and department stores, and has caused queues to gather with many card-carrying tourists unaware of the rule.

Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported that the Bank of Italy took the action because the Holy See has not yet fully complied with European Union safeguards against money laundering.