ITALY
Telegraph (UK)
By Tom Kington in Rome 18 May 2014
A group of 26 Italian women who claim to be having affairs with Catholic priests have written a joint letter to Pope Francis begging him to end the Catholic Church’s ban on priests having sex and getting married.
The women, who met through a Facebook campaign, wrote to the Pope requesting a meeting to put forward their case, claiming they were just “a small sample” of the many partners of priests “living in silence”.
“We love these men, they love us, and in most cases, despite all efforts to renounce it, one cannot manage to give up such a solid and beautiful bond,” they wrote.
“We humbly place our suffering at your feet in the hope that something may change, not just for us, but for the good of the entire Church,” added the unnamed women in the letter that was first reported by the website Vatican Insider.
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