CHURCH UNEASE WITH BERLUSCONI

The Roman Catholic Church has expressed "unease" and "mortification" over revelations surrounding the private life of Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi.

• In some of the strongest Church criticism to date, the newspaper of the Italian Bishops' Conference condemned Mr Berlusconi's "arrogant" behaviour.
• His political party relies heavily on the support of Catholic voters.
• However the prime minister's reported dealings with younger women have not greatly damaged his approval ratings.
• There have been a series of allegations about Mr Berlusconi's private life over the past few months.
• Media attention first focused on an alleged relationship between the prime minister and 18-year-old Noemi Letizia.
• Mr Berlusconi attended her birthday party, bringing a 6,000 euro (£5,160; $8,500) necklace, prompting his wife Veronica to seek a divorce and accuse her husband of "consorting with minors".
• The prime minister initially said he had only gone to Ms Letizia's party because she was the daughter of a family friend, but photographs later emerged of them together at social events last year, when she was 17.
• He also confirmed she had stayed at his villa in Sardinia.
• More recently the left-leaning Italian magazine L'Espresso published transcripts and audio of an alleged encounter between Mr Berlusconi, 72, and an escort, Patrizia D'Addario.
• The prime minister's lawyers insist the tapes are fakes and have insisted he had never paid for sex.

Source: BBC