Controversy has broken out in Italy over an admission by a Roman Catholic priest that he helped young Albanian prostitutes to obtain abortions.

The priest in the northern city of Genoa said he had first tried to dissuade the women, but respected the decisions of those who had made up their minds.

Father Andrea Gallo, 70, said that he had directed the prostitutes to a doctor friend of his.

They needed private assistance because, as illegal immigrants, they could not use public hospitals.

The priest, who has been working with drug addicts and prostitutes for years, said the women had come to him in desperation. Some were as young as 17.

A number had been badly beaten by their pimps when they became pregnant.

Father Gallo said he tried to persuade them to give birth.

"I haven't abandoned my principles," he said. "I still believe abortion is a sin. But if they had made up their minds, I did not abandon them."

Local Catholic authority investigates

Predictably, his comments have caused controversy and the story is front-page news in Italy.

Pope John Paul II has campaigned against abortion throughout his Papacy, condemning it as an abominable crime.

A Vatican spokeswoman would not comment on the case beyond saying that the Church's position on abortion was very clear. She said it was up to the local Church authorities to investigate in the first instance.

A spokesman for the Archbishop of Genoa, Cardinal Tetamanci, told the BBC he was looking into the situation.

In a separate development, a priest in the seaside resort of Rimini has called on each of Italy's 28,000 parishes to adopt a prostitute, giving them shelter and a chance of a new life.