A Catholic priest in Italy has been arrested after an 11-year-old girl used her phone to record herself being sexually abused.

Father Michele Mottola is accused of sexually abusing the girl in Trentola Ducenta, near Naples.

In the disturbing recording, the priest can be heard asking the young girl to kiss and hug him amid the sound of her protest.

The girl protests but he continues: ‘There is no one here. Are you afraid? Kiss me, hug me.’

In a second recording, heavy breathing can be heard as the girl objects to his apparent advances and pleads: ‘Enough, enough.’

The priest then says: ‘Take this to dry yourself.’

The girl’s mother had befriended Father Mottola after he gave her daughter a series of gifts including a watch, a jacket and a computer.

The 11-year-old was subsequently reluctant to tell her about the incident, so she instead confided in two parishioners, who reportedly did not act.

In desperation, the girl asked the parish priest to leave her alone and told him she had reported the incident to the parishioners.

He replied: ‘You didn’t have to do it, because now they will understand other things. Things will get very bad. I will come to your home to talk to your parents.’

He also accused the girl of lying, saying: ‘You can tell lies. Did you understand you can lie? You’re like Islamic suicide bombers, throwing a bomb, killing people and leaving. The mud ends up also on your family and on you.’

Marina’s mother eventually reported the incident to the bishop after parishioners intervened.

Mottola was suspended by the Catholic Church in May but only arrested this week when the phone recording was broadcast by local media.

‘I am proud of my daughter, she was more cunning than the priest,’ her mother said during Italian current affairs show La Iene.