An influential Catholic magazine has accused Italy's political leaders of being incapable of fixing the country's pressing problems and indulging in fruitless squabbling and pursuing personal interest.In an editorial that comes as speculation over early elections has grown sharply after a split in the ranks of the ruling centre-right coalition, Famiglia Cristiana said Italy lacked politicians capable of offering "shared aims."
"Public opinion, despite being drugged by TV, is disgusted by the unedifying spectacle offered almost every day by a political class which argues over everything," said the editorial from Wednesday's edition.
It accused Italy's political leaders of being "far removed from public opinion and incapable of resolving the serious problems facing the country".
There have been growing expectations that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will try to force early elections some time after the summer break following a dramatic split last month from his former party ally Gianfranco Fini.
The split has left Berlusconi's centre-right government without a guaranteed majority in parliament and prompted the prime minister to announce a make-or-break confidence vote when parliament resumes in September.
The Catholic Church was for decades intimately linked to the Italian centre-right but its position partly changed after the demise of the once-dominant Christian Democratic party following the massive "Bribesville" corruption scandals of the 1990s.
Famiglia Cristiana, one of Italy's top-selling magazines, has been a strong critic of Berlusconi in the past, attacking him over sex scandals and tough anti-crime measures it said would hurt the destitute.
The magazine, which ex-President Francesco Cossiga once termed "the publicity arm of the Catholic left", has a weekly circulation of around 560,000.
It did not name any party in the article, entitled "A country without a leader, and politicians who fight over everything" and it also said the Church should reflect on "how far its own leaders represent ethical and spiritual reference points for the whole nation."
A series of scandals have rocked Berlusconi's government in recent months. Two ministers resigned over corruption allegations and one of them has been convicted of embezzlement.
A junior minister has resigned after being accused of involvement in a conspiracy to fix judicial and political appointments, while another junior minister and senior figures in the ruling party are being investigated over the same affair.
Meanwhile Fini has denied allegations pushed heavily in Berlusconi-friendly newspapers that he was involved in a dubious real estate deal involving a flat in Monte Carlo bequeathed to his former party by a rich supporter.
SIC: Reuters India