A high-ranking Italian Catholic bishop yesterday denied allegations that he had a 12-year love affair with a woman, saying he had sinned in the past but not by breaking his vow of celibacy.
"Look, I've sinned, too. I confess and I always repent. But I haven't committed this sin," Dr Alberto Ablondi (72), bishop of the north-western city of Livorno and a vice-president of the Italian bishops' conference, told La Repubblica newspaper.
Reports that the bishop had a clandestine, passionate relationship with Ms Laura Magrini (53) were reported in the national press on Thursday after the former church worker sold her story to the weekly gossip magazine, Oggi.
The magazine said it uncovered the story, which has gripped Italians, after anonymously receiving three tape recordings of private phone conversations between Dr Ablondi and Ms Magrini. She decided to tell her story after being confronted with the tapes.
The bishop immediately denied Ms Magrini's version, calling the story "infamous", but Italians remain intrigued by the whiff of scandal over one of the Church's most controversial taboos.
"The bishop can deny it all he likes but it's all true, the cassettes prove it," La Repubblica quoted her as saying, adding she had tried and failed to sell them in the past.
According to Ms Magrini, the relationship began in 1978 when she worked part-time for the local diocesan newspaper. Separated from her husband at the time, she fell in love with the bishop but the relationship was platonic for some years. She said they had sought every available moment of intimacy and had enjoyed a "crescendo of passion" until the relationship ended in 1990.
Dr Ablondi said the woman had been "animated towards me" and the diocese had dismissed her. "She carried on ringing me up and very occasionally she would turn up," he told the Corriere della Sera daily.
"Once she tried to embrace me. I told her I would not receive her any more, something I have never done with anyone. Maybe that's what sparked her reaction.
"I know a lot more about this woman but I can't say," he added. "I don't want to take advantage."
Dr Ablondi, who was ordained as a priest in 1947, said he would have no hesitation in meeting the woman if she requested it and said "the truth will out".
Asked whether he would be taking legal action, he said: "No, I hope not. I think in the end good sense will triumph. I'll only sue if I have to."
The Church has been rocked by scandals in recent years over acknowledged or alleged affairs involving prelates, leading to calls for its position on priestly celibacy to be reviewed.