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.