Svetlana Shults, a 29-year-old single mother from Russia's provincial city of Kamyshin, sent an open complaint about the city's mayor to Pope Benedict XVI, Novaya Gazeta daily reported on Monday.
Shults lives in a dilapidated communal home in miserable conditions built in 1953 with her three sons. The woman has asked several times for Kamyshin Mayor Alexander Chunakov, a member of Russia's pro-Kremlin United Russia party, to change the situation, but her requests have been constantly ignored.
Shults threateningly told Chunakov she had written letters to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The mayor laughed and suggested the widow write directly to the Pope.
It is unknown whether Shults actually wrote to Putin and Medvedev, but this time many people have read her letter to the Pope.
"Dear Benedict XVI, if you do not consider the highest branches of power and United Russia an exemption from punishment for their sins (indulgence), I request you to send to Kamyshin a Holy Inquisition or specialists to drive away demons (exorcism) in order to correct our officials and guide [them] onto the right path," her letter said in Russian.
"All hope lies only on you. There is no one left to write to. If I fail to grab your attention I will commit a deadly sin - self-immolation. Maybe only then will somebody notice our God-forsaken town and the troubles of [its] common people," Shults wrote.
"This is all just a PR smear used by political opponents of the current head of the city," Evgeny Pereverzev, spokesman for the Kamyshin city government told V1.ru website.
Novaya Gazeta has promised to publish Benedict XVI's reply to Shults should she get one.
MOSCOW, July 5 (RIA Novosti)
