It’s January and there’s no better way to start the year than with a ‘hot priest’. Or at least a calendar of them if the real thing isn’t available. The Calendario Romano has been a hit for twenty years and features attractive priests from Rome. However, the photographer who shoots the images has admitted that most, if not all, are not priests.

Photographer Piero Pazzi confessed to the Italian news outlet Il Post. “It’s true, they are not all priests,” he says, “but the intention was to give a profile to priests as a symbol of Rome, which owes so much to the Vatican and the Catholic Church in general.”

The calendar costs a little over $8 to buy, and each month shows a black-and-white portrait of that month’s priest in full working clothes.

Not real priests

However, according to Sr. Pazzi, the majority of the priests are not real priests. They are models or other young attractive Italian men that he then photographs. And some aren’t even Italian, he admits, but were Spanish!

One such example is actually a real estate agent in Seville who Sr. Pazzi photographed while he was living there.

According to Il Post, the cover star of the calendar, Giovanni Galizia, is actually a flight attendant and has never been associated with the Catholic church. “No, I’m not a priest. I can confirm it. I would remember it if I was,” he said in an interview with Italy’s Fanpage magazine. “(Pazzi) asked me if I wanted to take that photo, and I said: ‘Why not’. From there, this never-ending story was born,” he added. following up by saying that he never had any ambition to be a professional model.

Street photography

Pazzi did admit that many of the subjects in the calendar are men he sees walking around and are photographed in a street photography style. If this is the case, then I imagine that some of these men are real priests (unless Romans have a peculiar penchant for tarts and vicar parties).

It’s not uncommon to see men of the cloth when walking around Rome (and, indeed cities in Spain), so the concept is plausible. Rome is home to the Vatican City and the Pope. Millions of people flock there each year to visit the exquisite Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. Strict rules apply, and not long ago, Jason Momoa was criticised for taking selfies inside the chapel.

I must admit I’m yet to see any priests this attractive in real life. Still, one can pray.

Cover image: Andrés Gómez García

[via the daily mail]