Nun’s beauty contest is off, priest regrets

On Tuesday The First Post reported how an Italian priest, Father Antonio Rungi (pictured), was attempting to stage the world’s first beauty contest for nuns, with photos appearing online and voting due to begin in mid-September. Now his dream has been killed off by his local bishop, who no doubt feared it would bring ridicule and shame on the Roman Catholic church.

"My superiors were not happy," Father Rungi told Reuters news agency from his parish in the town of Mondragone, near Naples. "The local bishop was not happy, but they did not understand me either. It was interpreted as more of a physical thing. Now, no one is saying that nuns can’t be beautiful, but I was thinking about something more complete."

What might have done for his idea, however, were some unguarded remarks the priest made to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. When asked for his own ideal of feminine beauty, he replied: “Well, I would say Sophia Loren."