One of the Pope’s former personal bodyguards has claimed he received several sexual advances from priests while serving at the Vatican.

He claims he received 20 to 25 explicit sexual advances from cardinals, bishops and other members of the clergy.

On one occasion, a cardinal even invited him up to his rooms in the Vatican.

The unnamed soldier served in the Swiss Guard during the papacy of John Paul II, which lasted from 1978 until 2005.

‘One night, sometime after midnight, I received a call on my mobile phone. The person on the other end said he was a cardinal and asked me to come to his room,’ he told Swiss newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag.

In the latest sex scandal involving the Catholic Church, the security guard also claimed a bishop left a bottle of whisky on his bed with a visiting card placed next to it.

Another incident involved how a priest had invited him to dinner, saying the guard would be served after for dessert.

The soldier claimed he reported the harassment to officials in the Vatican, but was offered no support.

He said his experiences added weight to the allegations of a ‘gay lobby’ active in the hub of the Catholic Church.

The Pope has ordered an investigation into the ‘gay lobby’, but has found nothing to back them up.

Urs Moser, a spokesman for the corps, said: ‘Rumours of a gay network inside the Vatican are not our problem. Our men concern themselves purely with religious and military matters.’

The Vatican denies the allegations.