THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Catholic Church has launched a scathing critique of Silvio Berlusconi, warning that his scandalous private life threatened to turn Italy into a moral vacuum.
The country’s most senior bishop, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, said the prime minister’s conduct was sowing the seeds of an “anthropological disaster”, where young Italians would eschew abiding by the law and working hard in favour of easy money by “selling” themselves.
Cardinal Bagnasco, said the example set by Italy’s leaders suggested that “cunning, social climbing, showing off and selling oneself” was the way to get ahead in life.
Italians were “horrified” by the conduct of politicians, some of whom needed a refresher course in “the ABCs of ethics”, he said. >>> Nick Squires, Rome | Monday, January 24, 2011
