Sydney, Feb. 22 : Pope Benedict XVI resigned after an internal investigation informed him about rampant corruption and gay sex in the Vatican.

A team of three cardinals were asked by Benedict to verify allegations of financial impropriety, cronyism and corruption exposed in the so-called VatiLeaks affair.

In December, they handed the pontiff a large portfolio of papers which was `an exact map of the mischief and the bad fish' inside the Holy See, Italian newspaper La Repubblica said.

According to news. com. au, the newspaper added that it was on that day, with those papers on his desk, that Benedict XVI took the decision of resigning.

Panorama, a conservative weekly, did not speculate about the motives behind Benedict's resignation, but its story about the contents of the confidential report was broadly similar.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi refused to `run after fantasies and opinions' and warned reporters to `not expect comments or rebuttals of what is being said on this issue.''''

Father Lombardi said that the three cardinals had submitted their report privately to Pope Benedict, and it would be passed on to his successor, CatholicCulture. org reported.

According to the report, he added that the three prelates who investigated the `Vatileaks' scandal and prepared a thorough report, Cardinals Julian Herranz, Jozef Tomko, and Salvatore De Giorgi, will not be giving interviews or divulging details regarding the contents of the report.

La Repubblica said that the report shocked Pope Benedict and contributed to his decision to resign.

The Italian newspaper also said there was secret report that delves into suspect dealings at the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), the Vatican''s bank, where a new chairman was appointed last week after a nine-month vacancy, the report added. (ANI)