Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has written a Christmas letter to the pope saying Christian values guide his government’s work, the latest evidence that the prime minister beset by a sex scandal is taking an increasingly pious tone as he eyes Catholic voters.
The letter follows a new Berlusconi mantra — “Love conquers hatred and envy” — and his public pardon of the man who recently assaulted him, breaking his nose and two teeth.
The attack, and images of a bleeding and shocked Berlusconi, generated a wave of sympathy for the prime minister and quieted at least temporarily Italy’s rancorous political discourse. By taking the moral high ground, analysts say, Berlusconi is capitalizing on that sympathy while also warming relations with the Vatican.
Berlusconi’s conservative forces have a solid majority in parliament, but his purported dalliances with a prostitute strained relations with the Catholic Church earlier this year. Such ties have long been politically important in the largely Roman Catholic country.
His recent overtures come amid continuing talk of the creation of a new centrist party to challenge Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party that would be headed by politicians close to the Vatican.
The sex scandal erupted in April after Berlusconi’s second wife, Veronica Lario, announced she was divorcing him, citing his presence at the birthday party of an 18-year-old model and his fondness for younger women.
After the story broke, several women — including a high-end prostitute — came forward to say they had been paid by a Berlusconi associate to attend parties at the prime minister’s homes. The prostitute produced what she said were audio recordings of the night the two purportedly spent together.
Berlusconi denied any improper relationships with women and said he had never paid a woman for sex. But he admitted he was “no saint” and promised to turn over a new leaf.
In the letter to Pope Benedict XVI, Berlusconi said Christmastime was an “important moment of reflection” for all, reminding every one of Christ’s message of peace and fraternity.
“I can confirm that the Christian values pronounced by the pontiff are always present in the action of my government, which will adopt all the measures necessary to guarantee peace and serenity in society,” he wrote.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
RSS