At least 18 priests have died of coronavirus in Italy, where clergymen are exposing themselves to the illness by comforting sick patients.

The Pope has encouraged Catholic priests to 'have the courage to go out and go to the sick people', but their visits to intensive care units have brought them into contact with some of the most serious virus cases.

At least 10 priests have died of Covid-19 in the diocese of Bergamo near Milan, according to Catholic newspaper Avvenire.

Another five deaths were registered in the city of Parma, while other cases have emerged in Brescia, Cremona and Milan, all in northern Italy.

Priests have been infected and killed by coronavirus after comforting sick patients in Italy (pictured, a priest conducting a Sunday Mass alone in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere)

Vatican forgives sins of affected worshippers The Catholic Church has today granted forgiveness - under certain conditions - for the sins of the faithful struck by coronavirus. A decree published by the Vatican on Friday also covers healthcare workers and those who pray for their wellbeing. Relatives who care for their sick family members may also be forgiven. The conditions include the sick saying a certain number of prayers or following important celebrations from a distance. Those who pray for the caregivers' wellbeing must also read the Bible 'for at least half an hour'. Advertisement

The deaths, whether of priests or members of their communities, are 'so numerous that it is difficult to count', the Catholic newspaper wrote.

Like doctors, Italy's priests come into contact with the disease's most serious cases.

They are also known to congregate among themselves in close quarters, creating the perfect conditions for contagion.

The 10 deaths in Bergamo, five in Parma and three other reported cases mean the clerical death toll is at least 18.

For comparison, a count by Italy's ANSA news agency on Thursday put the number of medics killed by the disease at 13.

'Dressed in a mask, a cap, gloves, a robe and protective glasses, we priests walk around the halls like zombies,' Father Claudio del Monte told Italy's Adnkronos news agency.

Del Monte has a parish in Bergamo, a walled, hillside city of 120,000 people which is now at the centre of the world's worst outbreak.

With 4,634 infections as of Friday, the province had piled up 11 per cent of all of Italy's cases.

Its population accounts for just 0.2 per cent of Italy's total.

Bergamo has so many dead that army trucks had to deliver supplies of freshly-made wooden coffins yesterday.

Mortuaries can no longer hold all the bodies and there are fears that the true death toll may be even higher because some victims are never tested.

Pope Francis, pictured celebrating Mass alone at his Santa Marta guesthouse in the Vatican yesterday, has urged clergymen to meet the sick

'We no longer know where to put the dead,' the bishop of Bergamo, Francesco Beschi, told the Vatican News site.

Standing and looking at the coffins makes him feel 'very heavy', Beschi said.

Like all the other victims, the clergymen are buried without ceremony.

Funerals, along with weddings, have been banned for over a week to stem contagion. They may not be allowed again for many more weeks or months.

'It is painful to see the priests fall sick,' Enrico Salmi, the bishop of Parma, told the Avvenire.

'Sometimes it happens (to them) out of pastoral zeal. They enter the intensive care unit where, naturally, no one is supposed to go.'

Touched by the plight of the priests of Bergamo, Pope Francis placed a call on Wednesday to Beschi, the parish bishop.

Pope Francis was 'very impressed by the suffering of the many dead,' Beschi said in a statement.

The Argentine-born pontiff has repeatedly called on priests to spend more time visiting the sick.

In a live-streamed Mass last week he prayed that clergymen would 'have the courage to go out and go to the sick people'.

The pope himself a series of engagements after suffering from a cold during an Ash Wednesday service.

Fears were raised after Francis was pictured hugging and kissing members of the public after speaking with a hoarse voice and blowing his nose in church.

However, the pontiff is thought to have tested negative for coronavirus.

Francis has enjoyed generally good health, although he had part of one lung removed as a younger man.