News: Beauty contest for Italian nuns.
An Italian Catholic priest is launching a beauty contest with a difference - it will be open only to nuns.
Father Antonio Rungi, from Mondragone in the province of Caserta, near Naples, said he expected at least a thousand nuns to enter the "Sister Italia" contest. It would at first run online, but he hoped it would then become a "real pageant" on the lines of the annual Miss Italy contest, complete with a parade and interviews.
Rungi aims to give them more visibility within the Catholic Church and fight the stereotype that they are all old and dour. The nuns would not wear swimsuits or revealing outfits, as Rungi "values inner beauty the most in a woman". Asked for his feminine ideal however, he replied "Well, I would say Sophia Loren".