'Lap dancing nun' to perform for cardinals and bishops

Anna Nobili, 38, spent years working as an exotic dancer and striptease artist in night clubs in Milan.

But she swapped string bikinis and high heels for a nun's habit after a visit to the shrine of St Francis in Assisi, a place of pilgrimage for millions of Catholics in Umbria, in 2002.

Sister Nobili, as she became, joined an order of nuns called the Sister Workers of the Holy House of Nazareth.

She claims to have been reborn by her faith in God and practises a form of "mystical" choreography which she calls "Holy Dance".

She is due to perform in front of senior Catholic clerics next week at the Holy Cross in Jerusalem Basilica, one of Rome's best known churches.

The performance, based on stories from the Old and New Testaments, will be called: "The Bible: Day and Night".

Among the guests expected to attend will be Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, who is in charge of the Vatican's Cultural Department.

Sister Nobili, who now calls herself a "ballerina for God", said: "I was wasting my life dancing for men in clubs. The nights were filled with sex and alcohol. It was an empty life but I liked it because I was the centre of attention.

"But now my life has been transformed," she told La Repubblica. "I still dance but now I dance for God and I'm happy. All my choreography is dedicated to Him. My aim is to pray using my body."