An Italian priest says that he is going to organize the world's first beauty pageant for nuns to erase a stereotype of them as being old and dour.

Antonio Rungi says The Miss Sister Italy online beauty pageant contest will commence on his blog in September. "Nuns are especially women and beauty is a gift from God," he told Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper. He is asking nuns to mail their photos to him, saying that internet users will then decide the winner. Father Rungi stressed that nuns were not being asked to parade in bathing suits, telling it will be up to them whether they come pose with the traditional veil or with their heads uncovered.

"This beauty contest will be a way to show there isn't just the beauty we notice on television but as well a more discreet charm," the church priest, who lives close to the southern city of Naples, told the Corriere della Sera. He said that the "You truly think all nuns are old, stunted and sad? This isn't the casing anymore", pointing out that many young nuns had arrived to Italy from around the world. He added that the plan of staging such a beauty contest had been puts forward by nuns themselves.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk