Berlusconi says he’s as good as Pope

Berlusconi: really likes Francis ‘because he acts as a pope just like I would have acted’.

Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi suggested yesterday that he could lead the Catholic Church just as well as Pope Francis.

With Francis, the Vatican has found an immensely popular leader who, a year on from his election, has proved capable of revitalising an institution weakened by a long string of scandals.

“I really like him because he acts as a pope just like I would have acted,” Berlusconi – who has been embroiled in several sex and corruption cases – said in an interview for the Radio 24 broadcaster.

The interviewer asked whether he meant that Francis was “good” because he resembled Berlusconi.

“I’ll put it to you in another way: I am good because I resemble the pope,” the former premier shot back.

The remarks were broadcast before Berlusconi made a second visit to an elderly care centre near Milan, to which he was assigned as part of a one-year community service sentence for tax fraud issued in August.

Berlusconi, 77, was ordered to perform at least four hours of community service, once a week, at the facility in Cesano Boscone.

He is gradually being involved in care duties for patients with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.