An Italian priest has run away with a female volunteer and nearly €28,000 in donations from a centre for poor people in Acireale, Italian media report.

The priest was the sole administrator of the centre named after Pope John XXIII, and he ran away with a female voluntary worker who forms part of one of the most established families in the locality.

The priest, Vincenzo Duca, belonged to the Camillo de Lellis religious community, which tried to keep the escapade under wraps.

But when it was realised that €29,700 had gone missing from the centre, they called in the police to start their investigations.