ROME — Two former officials of a Vatican-owned children’s hospital were charged on Thursday with misappropriating nearly half a million dollars for the renovation of the luxurious apartment of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s second in command under Pope Benedict XVI.

The officials — Giuseppe Profiti, the former president of the Bambino Gesù pediatric hospital, and Massimo Spina, its former treasurer — were ordered to stand trial in a Vatican court next Tuesday.

The indictments — with their indirect connection to Cardinal Bertone, arguably the most powerful internal player during the last pontificate — were yet another sign of Pope Francis’ efforts to root out corruption in the church’s baroque bureaucracy.

Francis, who has sought to embody his message of modesty in the Vatican by eschewing the option of living in the Apostolic Palace in favor of the simpler Santa Marta residence, has sought to increase financial transparency in a walled city-state not known for open business practices.