Italian ultra-nationalist insults pope

ROME, March 2 (UPI) -- An ultra-nationalist Italian politician with close ties to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has rocked the country by mocking Pope John Paul II.

Umberto Bossi, leader of the Northern League party said in a weekend address to visiting priests he would send the pope three dictionaries of northern Italian dialects so he could speak something other than Polish and Roman.

He delivered the address deliberately in a mock-Roman accent, the newspaper said.

He also said the Catholic church should be deprived of its tax donations from the Italian state, and then ranted about "thieving monsignors and cardinals ... who speak in the name of the money God."

The remarks upset Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini, who questioned the coalition alliance Berlsuconi maintains with Bossi's party.

"Bossi has exceeded the limits of decency," Fini said.