Berlusconi's Girlfriend Drags Pope Francis into Expulsion Row

Pope Francis has been pulled into Italy's political squabble by Silvio Berlusconi's girlfriend who has urged the pontiff to receive her to discuss the political disgrace of her partner.

Berlusconi was ousted from the Senate over his conviction for tax fraud, in a vote that sent his supporters mourning what they described as the death of freedom and democracy.

"I'm launching an appeal to Pope Francis, for him to receive me and hear the story of Berlusconi," Francesca Pascale, 28, told Il Corriere della Sera newspaper.

A Vatican spokesperson told IBTimes UK the Holy See does not comment on Italian politics issues, and added that a formal request needs to be filed to be received by the Pope. "To tell newspapers is not enough," the spokesman said.

It is not clear if Pascale has filed any such request.

Pascale said she initially planned to demand presidential pardon for Berlusconi from Italy's president Giorgio Napolitano, but did not go ahead because she felt she would have found "the door shut".

"For me today is a day of unbelievable bitterness," Pascale said. "I can hardly speak. I'd like to take him away, distance my man from those who hate him to shelter him from the blows of an unjust humiliation."

Napolitano has been harshly attacked by Berlusconi's media and party members for his refusal to grant the 77-year-old pardon.

Berlusconi's mouthpiece newspaper Il Giornale described the 88-year-old President as an "embittered old man in bad faith who is unworthy of Italy's highest office."

Napolitano, a former socialist, was voted in president for an unprecedented second term earlier this year with the full support of Berlusconi's MPs.

Addressing the Senate ahead of the vote to expel Berlusconi, the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) whip Luigi Zanda condemned attacks against Napolitano saying they marked a dark page of Italian history.

Later senators voted Berlusconi had to lose his seat in execution of a 2012 anti-corruption law, also backed by Berlusconi's MPs, stipulating that anyone sentenced to more than two years in prison cannot hold or run for office.

In August, Italy's Supreme Court upheld a tax-fraud conviction against Berlusconi with a four-year jail sentence.

The media tycoon has however maintained that the anti-corruption law should not apply to him because his alleged offence was committed before the regulation was approved.

He claims his expulsion is part of an undemocratic plot to kick him out of the Italian political scene.

"It's a bitter day of mourning for democracy," Berlusconi said speaking to supporters who demonstrated outside his Roman residence, the Grazioli Palace.

In Parliament, many senators for Berlusconi's party wore black clothing as a statement of grief over the expulsion.

The three-time PM has pledged to continue his political fight out of parliament. He has re-launched his first political venture Forza Italia (Go Italy) and still counts on a considerable amount of MPs.