ROME -- An Italian priest says he has decided to organize an online beauty pageant for nuns.
Rev. Antonio Rungi, a theologian and schoolteacher from the Naples area, says he wants to fight the stereotype that nuns are all old and dour.
The Miss Sister 2008 contest will start in September on a blog run by Rungi. Visitors to the site will have a month to "vote for the nun they consider a model."
Nuns will provide profiles and photos to the website.
It will be up to them to choose whether to pose with the traditional veil or with their heads uncovered.
But Rungi says web surfers can forget it if they think they'll find bikini-clad nuns.
"We are not going to parade nuns in bathing suits," Rungi said from his town of Mondragone. "But being ugly is not a requirement for becoming a nun. External beauty is a gift from God, and we mustn't hide it."
Rungi said the idea was first suggested to him by nuns with whom he regularly prays and works. He hopes there will be dozens of submissions.
The contest drew criticism from the association of Catholic teachers.
If external beauty is a gift from God, and mustn't be hidden why shouldn't the contest be nude so we can critique "God's work"?
