Pope Benedict XVI condemned yesterday "injurious attacks" by the Italian press against top Vatican figures accused of defaming the editor of the Italian bishops' newspaper.

The Pope "deplores these unjust and injurious attacks and renews his confidence in his collaborators," said a highly unusual note from the office of Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone.

Press stories appearing in the last two weeks had "the clear intention of demonstrating the involvement" of Gian Maria Vian, head of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, in smearing Dino Boffo, editor-in-chief of the Italian bishops' daily Avvenire, the note said.

Press reports even went "as far as to insinuate" that Mr Bertone himself bore responsibility in the affair, it added. In mid-2009, Mr Boffo criticised Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi over his dalliances with women.

Soon afterward Il Giornale, a daily owned by Mr Berlusconi's brother Paolo, said it had seen court documents proving that Mr Boffo harassed the wife of a former male partner with telephone calls.

Mr Boffo soon resigned, and months later Il Giornale's editor-in-chief Vittorio Feltri admitted the documents were fake.

The Italian press speculated that the source of the fake documents might have been Mr Vian or Mr Bertone, only two of the players in a higher-level dispute between the Vatican and the Italian Catholic Church.

The Vatican statement said the press reports amounted to a "defamatory campaign against the Holy See, which involves the Roman Pontiff himself".