Pope urges moral standards amid Berlusconi scandal

Premier Silvio Berlusconi came under mounting criticism yesterday from the Catholic Church over his dalliances with young women, with the pope saying public officials must set good moral examples and Italian bishops planning to discuss the sex scandal.

Pope Benedict XVI didn’t mention the scandal or Berlusconi by name. But during an audience with Rome’s police chief and police officers, he said public officials must “rediscover their spiritual and moral roots.”

“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.

Prosecutors have placed Berlusconi and three associates under investigation, alleging he paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl nicknamed Ruby and used his office to cover it up. Prosecutors have said Berlusconi had sex with several prostitutes during parties at his Milan estate.

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

Berlusconi has denied the allegations and accused prosecutors of a politically motivated witch hunt. He has not been charged. Ruby, who is now 18, has denied she had sex with Berlusconi, though she says he did give her €7,000 to help her out financially.

Yesterday, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the head of the Italian bishops’ conference, said the scandal would be discussed on Monday at a meeting of the conference’s main decision-making body.