Another scandal has hit the seat of the Roman Catholic Church amid new allegations of a sex ring scandal that surfaced over the weekend in Vatican City.

This time, it is back to money, the love of which is the root of all evil. Monsignor Nunzio Scarano was detained because of his alleged attempt to smuggle out of Switzerland to Italy 20 million euro in cash.

The monsignor is said to have close links to the corruption-prone Vatican Bank. Arrested with him are Giovanni Zito, a secret services agent, and Giovanni Carenzo, a financial broker.

The money was supposed to be used by wealthy friends of Mr Scarano in the shipping industry who are based in the city of Salerno. He is in the Queen of Heaven jail following a three-hour interrogation.

Francesco Grimaldi, his lawyer, requested that the monsignor be instead placed under house arrest in a parish or religious institution so he could still say Mass.

The 61-year-old priest claimed he did not bring in the money for his personal gain. However, he appears to be moneyed himself since he is called by other priests as Monsignor 500 because of his showing to them often his wallet full of 500 euro bills.

Before he became a priest, the monsignor was a banker and is alleged to have used his accounts with the Vatican Bank, also known as the Institute for the Works of Religion, to funnel millions of euro.

Because of his banking background, the monsignor was a senior accountant in a Vatican department that oversees the Catholic Church properties, but he was recently suspended for corruption allegations.