On April 20, Italian daily La Repubblica reported that the cardinal was moving into a lavish 6500 square foot apartment in the Vatican's San Carlo Palace.

This was while Pope Francis was urging clerics to adopt a modest lifestyle.

But in an open letter in Italian magazines, Cardinal Bertone wrote that he had been contacted by the Pope, who had expressed his personal support.

The cardinal wrote that the apartment is of a typical size for Vatican palaces and that media doubled the size of the apartment he is going to live in.

He renovated it at his own expense, he added.

The restructuring combines two separate apartments.

Three nuns who worked with Cardinal Bertone when he was secretary of state will live with him in his new residence.

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