At the same time the Catholic Church was fighting a family who refused to accept $55,000 compensation for each of their abused daughters, it purchased a Kew mansion for Archbishop Denis Hart now valued at $2.25 million.

Three years later, the church also spent $872,000 on a beach house with bay views in Dromana for Archbishop Hart, which he now personally owns after buying it off the Archdiocese for $1.12 million in 2017.

Investigations reporter Chris Vedelago explains how Fairfax found the Church was grossly undervaluing its property treasures in Victoria.

Details of the church’s residential property purchases have emerged from a ground-breaking, six-month Age investigation into the wealth of the church, which identified assets of at least $9 billion in Victoria and $30 billion nationwide.