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Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during the taping of the television program Porta a Porta - Source: Reuters -
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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.
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 ($US8,500)
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 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%, down just four points since May despite Italy's worst economic downturn since World War II.
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