Silvio Berlusconi's girlfriend has requested Pope Francis to grant her an audience so she can fight to clear the expelled senator's name.
Francesca Pascale stated that the move to expel disgraced former prime minister after he was convicted in August of tax fraud was "a coup d'etat" that has caused her "unutterable bitterness", the Mirror reported.
According to daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, the 28-year-old former television showgirl from Naples said that she is appealing to the current Pope of the Catholic Church to hear the 77-year-old Italian politician's story.
The upper house of the Italian parliament approved the expulsion of the three-time prime minister which bars him from parliament for six years.