The Vatican voiced outrage today after a church property in Moscow was turned into a brothel, saying it was part of what it sees as a long-running smear campaign against the Catholic Church in Russia.
In a statement, the Vatican said Franciscan friars in the Russian capital had rented out one of their apartments to a private individual who had assured them it would be used for "charitable purposes".
Instead it became a house of ill repute with prostitutes dressed as nuns, the Vatican said.
Pope John Paul's spokesman Mr Joaquin Navarro-Valls branded the incident "a despicable operation designed to discredit the . . . brothers . . . and through them the Catholic Church".
His statement said the episode and Russian television broadcasts of people in religious attire acting immorally was part of a campaign "bent on damaging the reputation of the Catholic community".
Relations between the Vatican and Russia have been tense recently, with three Catholic priests being expelled in the past six months.
The Russian Orthodox Church, which split from Rome in the Great Schism of 1054, accuses Roman Catholics of using their new-found freedoms in the former Soviet Union to poach Orthodox believers.