The Vatican cardinal was sacked by Pope Francis in September, amid a corruption investigation. He is suing Italian news magazine L'Espresso, claiming that by ruining his reputation his chance of becoming pope was destroyed.

Bacciu's complaint raises questions about the conduct of Vatican criminal prosecutors investigating a corruption case. It suggests they leaked information to L'Espresso about financial irregularities in the Holy See.

Becciu resigned as the prefect of the Vatican's head of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in September after Pope Francis had presented the cardinal with allegations he had sent €100,000 in Holy See funds to a charity controlled by his brother.

Becciu admitted he sent the funds to the charity, not his brother - and told reporters he had done nothing wrong.

To date, he has not been under investigation in that case or any other, Becciu said in a statement announcing the lawsuit's seeking damages.

In his legal complaint, Becciu claimed that his sacking was a coordinated hit job with L'Espresso.

The magazine broke news of the payment to his brother in a story that went to the printers Sept. 24.

The complaint alleges Francis had a copy of the magazine's article on his desk during the Sept. 24 meeting at which he sacked Becciu. This suggested an internal leak of the story to the Vatican.

The L'Espresso's publisher has said some early editions "disappeared" from the printer that night and ended up on the pope's desk.

The complaint also says that nearly eight hours before Becciu's 6 p.m. meeting with Francis, L'Espresso created a webpage with an article entitled "This is why Cardinal Becciu resigned."

Citing the timestamp of the site's metadata, the complaint argues that the magazine knew about Becciu's sacking before he did, suggesting coordination with the Vatican.

L'Espresso has been leading the charge against Becciu. It has published a series of unsourced and speculative articles outlining prosecutors' case against him. Some of them citing unnamed Vatican investigators but others offering no attribution for the magazine's claims.

Sources

• Religion News
• Catholic News Agency

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