Dancer-turned-nun to perform for prelates

ROME, April 4 (UPI) -- An Italian lap dancer-turned-nun will perform in front of a group of Roman Catholic cardinals and bishops.

Anna Nobili, 38, who gave up years of exotic dancing in Milan after a 2002 visit to the shrine of St. Francis in Assisi, joined an order of nuns called the Sister Workers of the Holy House of Nazareth.

Sister Nobili, as she is now known, said she practices a form of "mystical" choreography she calls "Holy Dance," The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.

"I was wasting my life dancing for men in clubs. The nights were filled with sex and alcohol. It was an empty life but I liked it because I was the center of attention," she said. "But now my life has been transformed."

She is to perform in front of a group of prelates next week at Rome's Holy Cross in Jerusalem Basilica.

Her performance will be based on stories from the Old and New Testaments, the newspaper said.