'Loose living' monks being evicted

ROME, May 27 (UPI) -- A Vatican spokesman said about 20 concert-staging Cistercian monks are being evicted from an Italian monastery as part of a crackdown on "loose living."

The Rev. Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman, said the monks at Rome's basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme are being transferred following reports they had run a hotel with a 24-hour limousine service and organized concerts featuring a former exotic dancer who became a nun, Britain's The Guardian reported Thursday.

"An inquiry found evidence of liturgical and financial irregularities as well as lifestyles that were probably not in keeping with that of a monk," Benedettini said. "The church remains open but the monks are awaiting transfer."

Benedettini said the move is part of Pope Benedict XVI's crackdown on "loose living" in the Catholic Church.

The basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme houses some of the Catholic Church's holiest relics, including nails and wood splinters said to be from Jesus' cross and thorns from his crown.