Italy’s top bishop rounded on sex-scandal mired Premier Silvio Berlusconi with scathing criticism, insisting public officials must control themselves and warning of the damage to the country and its reputation.

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the head of the Italian bishops’ conference, said Italians were fed up with the scandal and its domination of the political scene, and said the matter should be resolved quickly.

“It’s easy to foresee that within the collective soul, this could leave profound marks, if not true wounds,” Cardinal Bagnasco warned at a meeting of the bishops’ decision-making body.

Prosecutors have placed Mr Berlusconi and three associates under investigation, alleging he paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl nicknamed Ruby and used his office to cover it up.

He has denied the allegations and accused prosecutors of a politically motivated witch hunt. Ruby, who is now 18, has denied she had sex with the Premier, but has said he gave her money to help her out financially. Phone tapped conversations of participants at parties – printed in virtually every Italian newspaper – have described Mr Berlusconi’s villa as a brothel with topless girls; Mr Berlusconi, meanwhile, has insisted the dinner parties were proper and denied ever paid for sex.

Despite his aggressive defence, the conservative Mr Berlusconi has come under increasing criticism from the Catholic Church, with the Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, referring directly to the probe last week by calling for a more “robust morality” and legality among public officials.

Cardinal Bagnasco also did not mention the Premier’s name, but he had said last week that he would address the scandal in his speech and his comments left little room for doubt.

He was clearly saddened by news which he said “refer to behaviour that is contrary to public decorum and, whether true or presumed, have exposed holes that show a style that is incompatible with sobriety and correctness; meanwhile some ask to what these huge investigations are owed”.