Italy's Catholic church feels "unease" and "mortification" at revelations surrounding the private life of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the newspaper of the Italian Bishops' Conference wrote on Wednesday. In its strongest criticism to date of the conservative leader, whose coalition relies heavily on the support of Catholic voters, Avvenire newspaper said the church had sent clears signals over Berlusconi's alleged womanising.
"Have people been able to identify the church's reservations?" wrote Avvenire's editor Dino Boffo.
"It seems to me that ... people have understood the unease, the mortification, the suffering that such an arrogant abandonment of a sober style has caused us."
The scandal over the 72-year-old media mogul's private life erupted on May 3, when his wife Veronica announced she wanted a divorce, accusing him of "frequenting minors".
Attention focused first on Berlusconi's relation with 18-year-old model Noemi Letizia, to whom he gave a 6,000 euro ($8,500) necklace at her birthday party, before other girls came forward claiming to have been paid to attend his extravagant parties.
One of them, 42-year-old Patrizia D'Addario, claimed she slept with Berlusconi at one party and posted tapes of their supposed conversations on the Internet. Berlusconi has not denied sleeping with her and has quipped he was "no saint".
While the foreign press has savaged Berlusconi over the allegations, Italy's media -- particularly state broadcaster RAI and his own TV networks -- have been more restrained, with the exception of left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper and its sister weekly L'Espresso.
In an interview published Wednesday in Il Giornale newspaper, owned by his family, Berlusconi railed against photographers who shot pictures of his daughter's birthday party at his Sardinian villa this week.
"Frankly, I deserve to be left in peace: enough violations of privacy," he said. Italian media said the three photographers had been arrested.
The scandal has only marginally damaged Berlusconi's high approval ratings. A survey late last month by pollster IPR Marketing showed Berlusconi's approval had slipped to 49 percent, down just four points since May despite Italy's worst economic downturn since World War II.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to us or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that we agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
SIC: Reuters