But the secretariat has strongly rejected the claims published in L'Espresso magazine.

Basing its reports on alleged leaked receipts from the secretariat, L'Espresso claimed the cardinal spent $A720,000 in setting up his new department.

It was suggested Cardinal Pell spent A$3600 on garments at the Gamarelli tailors in Rome, as well as A$6650 on kitchen sink fittings.

There were also alleged details of business class travel in planes.

Cardinal Pell also spent more than A$5100 a month to rent an office and apartment at an upmarket address, where he spent nearly A$87,000 on furniture, according to the allegations.

The leaks about Cardinal Pell's spending were widely suspected to be the work of Vatican prelates unhappy about his incursions on their authority.

This recalled the Vatileaks scandal, in which letters revealing the inner workings of the Holy See were leaked by the butler of Pope Benedict XVI.

Vatileaks apparently sprang from an attempt to settle scores in the Roman Curia.

Some commentators see the latest leaks as an effort to discredit Cardinal Pell as he carries out a papal mandate for financial transparency and reform at the Vatican.

Critics have charged Cardinal Pell with accumulating excessive power and with replicating the very cronyism and secrecy he was meant to dislodge.

A spokesperson for the secretariat strongly rejected the L'Espresso reports, especially a suggestion the Pope Francis had grilled Cardinal Pell about the spending.

The secretariat spokesman also rejected the idea that the cardinal had made excessive expense claims.

Operational costs, including some initial costs, were below the level budgeted for when the secretariat was set up, the secretariat spokesman said.

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi denounced the leaks, stating that "passing confidential documents to the press for polemical ends or to foster conflict is not new, but is always to be strongly condemned, and is illegal".

He said in a few months the secretariat will publish the financial statements for 2014 and the estimated budgets for 2015 for all of the entities of the Holy See, including the secretariat itself.

Sources

• Sydney Morning Herald
• Catholic Herald
• The Tablet
• Vatican Radio
• Crux
• Image: Channel News Asia

Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of Limburg had travelled to Rome to see Pope Francis after the head of the German bishops' conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, had briefed the Pontiff on the row created in Germany by reports of the bishop's spending.

The 53-year-old bishop — who has been called the Bishop of Bling — had come under fire for spending at least $NZ50 million renovating his residence and diocesan offices. Then German prosecutors accused him of filing false affidavits in a lawsuit over reporting on his spending habits.

After an investigation by Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, the retired president of Vatican City, in September, the Limburg diocese issued a statement claiming that the bishop had been cleared of wrongdoing.

But on October 23 the Vatican announced that "a situation has arisen in which Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst cannot, at the present moment, continue to exercise his episcopal ministry".

The announcement said the German Bishops' Conference had set up a commission to carry out a detailed examination of the matter of the building of the bishop's residence.

Pending the results of this examination, the Holy See considered it appropriate for the bishop to stay outside the diocese.

In the meantime, Father Stadtdekan Wolfgang Rosch, who had been due to become vicar general next January 1, has been named by the Vatican as the administrator of the diocese.

The Central Committee of German Catholics, which represents Catholic lay associations, said it was satisfied with the decision to suspend the bishop.

"Pope Francis's decision offers a chance at a new beginning in the diocese of Limburg where the situation has become heavy in recent weeks both for believers there and for the Church in Germany as a whole," said its president, Alois Glueck.

Sources:

Catholic News Agency

ABC News

Vatican Information Service

Image: Deutsche Welle

After being accused of lavish spending, Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of Limburg has travelled to Rome to meet officials at the Vatican, where Pope Francis has made it clear he prefers Church leaders to adopt a simple lifestyle.

Controversy over Bishop Tebart-van Elst has focused on cost overruns on his luxurious new residence complex and related renovations, now priced at $NZ50 million.

The bishop reportedly can afford this expenditure because German dioceses have untaxed secret reserves called the "bishop's chair", known only to the bishop and a few advisors.

In some older dioceses, "bishop's chair" reserves include age-old property holdings, donations from former princely rulers and funds from German states over the past two centuries.

As pressure increases for transparency in the Church's financial affairs, some dioceses are now revealing the extent of their "bishop's chair" funds.

Cologne, the largest and reportedly richest diocese in Europe, announced "in connection with the current discussion about Church finances" that its archbishop had reserves equal to $NZ268 million in 2012.

The small diocese of Trier, Germany's oldest, had a reserve of $NZ136 million and said part of its earnings went to pay damages to victims of the clerical sexual abuse scandals that rocked the German Church in recent years.

The increasing exodus of disillusioned Catholics from the Church in Germany has even alarmed the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, whose spokesman said the situation in Limburg was proving a burden to the Catholic Church.

Christians in Germany pay a church tax, which in 2012 raised more than $NZ8 billion for the Catholics and more than $NZ7 billion for the Protestant churches.

A Catholic who formally resigns from the Church no longer has to pay this tax.

Sources:

Reuters

The Tablet

Associated Press

Image: Vatican Insider