Pope enters Berlusconi sex furore

Published on Friday 21 January 2011 14:51

ITALIAN Premier Silvio Berlusconi came under mounting criticism yesterday from the Catholic Church over his dalliances with young women as the girl accused of having under-age sex with him appeared on Italian television.

• A tearful Karima el-Mahroug denies having sex when only 17 with Silvio Berlusconi, below, on Italian television Picture: Getty

Pope Benedict XVI said that public officials had a duty to set a moral example to the people while Italy's bishops planned a meeting to discuss the latest sex scandal involving the right-wing prime minister.

However, the Pope failed to mention the scandal directly and did not name Mr Berlsuconi in his comments. During an audience with Rome's police chief and police officers, the pontiff did say that public officials must "rediscover their spiritual and moral roots".

The Pope added: "The singular vocation that the city of Rome requires today of you, who are public officials, is to offer a good example of the positive and useful interaction between a healthy lay status and the Christian faith," Benedict said, echoing more direct comments about the scandal a day earlier by his immediate deputy.

Prosecutors have placed Mr Berlusconi and three associates under investigation, alleging he paid for sex with the then-17-year-old Karima el-Mahroug, nicknamed Ruby, and used his office to cover it up.

Prosecutors have said Mr Berlusconi had sex with several prostitutes during parties at his Milan estate.

Wire-tapped conversations of participants at the parties, printed this week in Italian newspapers, have described the villa as a brothel filled with topless girls, who at least on one occasion were offered nurse uniforms and police outfits to wear - an allegation which prompted a police union to formally protest.

Mr Berlusconi has denied the allegations and accused prosecutors of a political witch-hunt. He has not been charged. Ms el-Mahroug, who is now 18, has denied having sexual intercourse with Mr Berlusconi, 74, and recorded a television interview in Milan on Wednesday in which she was forced to tears denying the allegations. She claims Mr Berlusconi had only given her €7,000 (6,000) to help her out.

The church's criticism is a blow to the conservative media tycoon Mr Berlusconi, who - despite his lavish lifestyle and affection for beautiful women - has tried to establish his right-wing coalition as supportive of the church's key positions on family, life and social issues.

On Friday, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the head of the Italian bishops' conference, said the scandal would be discussed this Monday at a meeting of the conference's main decision-making body.

The newspaper of the Italian bishops' conference has already called the scandal "hurtful and upsetting" and said it had damaged Italy's international reputation.

Another influential Catholic publication, Famiglia Cristiana, said on Friday that, with his antics at his home in Arcore, Berlusconi had managed to divide Italian Catholics in a way they had never before been divided.

"Precisely at the same time the church is announcing a programme to re-educate young people in Christianity, we have from Arcore - from its supporters and critics on TV - an opposite message, of an indecent representation of a way to live," the magazine said in an editorial.

Pope Benedict's comments echoed those a day earlier by his Vatican deputy, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who was asked specifically to comment on the scandal.

Cardinal Bertone said the Vatican was concerned and following the developments "attentively." He said there must be a "more robust morality, a sense of justice and legality" among everyone, particularly those in public office.

His comments were the first by the Vatican on the scandal, though the Holy See newspaper L'Osservatore Romano had earlier reprinted a statement issued by the Italian president calling for a clear examination of the allegations in court as soon as possible.