All it’s good to know as Rome’s ‘horny priest calendar’ caught up in ‘faux’ row

Need to know

The Calendario Romano, a black-and-white calendar stacked in gift shops around the Vatican and across the city’s tourist hotspots, has been a Rome staple for more than 20 years

Everything you need to know

• Rome’s famous ‘sexy priest’ calendar has been exposed in a shocking scandal after it emerged some of the hunky models aren’t actually real clergy.
• The Calendario Romano has been flogging to tourists for over 20 years around Vatican gift shops for about £7 a pop. The black-and-white snaps feature moody portraits of gorgeous blokes in dog collars that have earned it the nickname “Hot Priest Calendar.”
• But Italian newspaper La Repubblica has blown the lid off the ruse, revealing some of the calendar’s so-called ‘priests’ are complete fakes. Critics are now branding it a “fake priest calendar” as the row explodes.
• Giovanni Galizia, 39, has been the calendar’s cover star for most of its 23-year run and now works as a flight attendant for a Spanish airline. He defended the calendar saying: “Of course, it winks a bit at the dynamic between the sacred and the profane.”
• Photographer Piero Pazzi admitted at least a third of the men in the 2027 edition are real priests, though he won’t say who’s who. The calendar has no official link to the Vatican despite being packed with Church facts.
• The calendar has built up a cult following in the UK, with Loose Women’s Judi Love joking it felt “a little bit sinful.”

READ THE FULL STORY: Rome’s best-selling ‘sexy priest calendar’ caught up in unholy ‘fake’ row