Controversial former Avvenire
editor Dino Boffo, best known for editorials criticizing the
lifestyle of former premier Silvio Berlusconi, has returned to
the payroll of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) after his
firing in February, ANSA has learned.
Boffo, who as editor of the CEI's daily newspaper Avvenire
created waves for his attacks on then-premier Berlusconi, won a
contract dispute with the bishops association in late October
but will remain at home until his retirement, sources said.
A clause in Boffo's contract protected him from being
dismissed, a point the 62-year-old has made during the past
eight months and which the CEI now appears to have accepted.
Boffo is seeking damages from the CEI, including Secretary
General Monsignor Nunzio Galantino, and a court hearing has been
scheduled in Rome for February 3, 2015.
Boffo has had a high-profile career, due to his attacks on
Berlusconi and subsequent counter-attacks on his reputation.
He wrote several harsh editorials criticizing then-premier
Berlusconi's allegedly immoral lifestyle after a series of news
reports at the time alleged the former premier had been involved
with prostitutes and threw lewd parties.
Boffo wasn't alone in his criticisms. At the same
time, Catholic weekly Famiglia Cristiana, sold in churches every
Sunday, went even further than Avvenire, saying that Berlusconi
had "overstepped the bounds of decency" with his "indefensible"
behavior.
Boffo resigned as editor of Avvenire in September 2009
after allegations, which were later shown to be unfounded, that
he had made obscene telephone calls and harassed a woman in the
Umbrian city of Terni to leave her husband, with whom he was in
a relationship.
It emerged, however, that Boffo had been fined in 2004 for
allegedly harassing a woman in the winter of 2001-2002 -
something the Berlusconi family-owned daily newspaper Il
Giornale played up with such headlines as: 'The Supermoralist
Condemned For Harassment'.
It went on to publish an opinion piece suggesting Boffo was
homosexual.
Earlier this year, Berlusconi was acquitted of charges of
paying for sex with an underage prostitute, as the courts ruled
that he thought the infamous Moroccan dancer Ruby the
Heartstealer was an adult when he paid for sex with her.
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