A Roman Catholic bishop has called for the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi following allegations that he had sex with escort Patrizia D’Addario at his Rome mansion in November.

The Italian prime minister has denied the allegations in an interview with Chi magazine, claiming to be the victim of a conspiracy.

“Someone gave a very precise and extremely well paid mission to this Miss D’Addario,” he told the magazine.

Miss D’Addario has dismissed the premier’s claim, telling La Repubblica newspaper that they spent the night together and that he invited her to breakfast with him the following morning.

Monsignor Domenico Mogavero, Bishop of Mazara del Vallo in Sicily, said that Mr Berlusconi should “consider whether it is opportune to resign in the interests of the country”, reports The Times.

The Catholic press has also laid into Berlusconi, with the editor of influential magazine Cristiana accusing the 72-year-old premier of "indefensible" behaviour and surpassing the limits of decency.

“One cannot pretend that nothing is happening or ignore the unease of growing portions of the population and Christians in particular,” Father Antonio Sciortino wrote in an editorial this week.

“There must be limits. Those limits of decency have been exceeded. Those who have power, even with wide popular mandate, cannot claim they are in ethics-free territory.”