The Italian government announced measures yesterday to end tax exemptions on commercial property owned by the Catholic Church, in a move expected to add up to €600 million to state coffers each year.

The Italian Catholic church today told gay priests not to lead a “double life” after a magazine article showed priests frequenting homosexual clubs in Rome.

Italy’s rabbis said today they were pulling out of the Italian Catholic Church’s annual celebration of Judaism, saying recent decisions by Pope Benedict XVI were negating 50 years of interfaith progress.