Another “Truth is Stranger than Fiction” item….
Don’t these people watch “The Borgias?”
From Rawstory.com:
ROME – Pope Benedict XVI has shut down a famous community in Rome that organised dances by a former nightclub dancer nun and hosted VIPs like Madonna, earning the disfavour of the Vatican.
The closure of the monastery of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, which holds some of the Church’s most prized relics, was reported by Italian dailies La Stampa and Il Foglio.
The reports said the community of Cistercian monks based at the church for more than five centuries was being transferred to other churches in Italy.
Contacted by AFP, the Vatican did not deny the reports.
The basilica had become a hub for the “Friends of Santa Croce”, an aristocratic group, and had been criticised for some unorthodox practices including dances in which nuns pranced around the altar.
One of the nuns who performed at the church, a former disco dancer, can be seen in a YouTube video performing a modern dance with a crucifix.
The basilica’s longtime abbot, Simone Fioraso, a flamboyant former Milan fashion designer, was already moved out of the basilica two years ago.
via Pope shuts down famous ‘party monastery’ with ‘prancing nuns’ | The Raw Story.
Lost in the 21st Century 