Papal priest’s comments anger Jewish groups

Jewish leaders around the world expressed anger after Pope Benedict XVI's personal priest likened the recent allegations against the Roman Catholic Church over sex abuse cases to anti-Semitism at a Good Friday service in Vatican City.

Jews "know from experience what it means to be victims of collective violence and also, because of this, they are quick to recognize the recurring symptoms," said Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, a Franciscan priest, at St. Peter's Basilica on Friday, with the Pope in attendance.

Both Jewish and victims' groups responded that it was inappropriate to compare the discomfort being experienced by the church leadership in the sex abuse scandal with the violence that culminated in the Holocaust.

Cantalamessa said he was inspired by a letter from an unidentified Jewish friend who was upset by the "attacks" against Benedict.

"The use of stereotypes, the passing from personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt remind me of the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism," he said, quoting from the letter.

Bernie Farber, CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress, called Cantalamessa's speech "breathtaking in its obscenity."

Farber said it was "hard to believe that a priest of the Roman Catholic Church would find it somehow appropriate to make this link" between the church's situation and the "mass murder of six million Jewish men, women, and children."

"I understand they're under attack, but this kind of an analogy is certainly not going to help matters."

Elan Steinberg, vice-president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, said the group was "sorely disappointed" by Cantalamessa's statements.

"The Vatican is entitled to defend itself, but the comparison with anti-Semitic persecution is offensive and unsustainable."

Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, later contacted The Associated Press and said Cantalamessa wasn't speaking as a Vatican official when he made the analogy.

Such parallelism can "lead to misunderstandings and is not an official position of the Catholic church," Lombardi said.

Invoking any comparison of the recent allegations against the Catholic church with anti-Semitism was particularly sensitive on Good Friday, itself a delicate day in a decades-long effort by Jews and Catholics to overcome a legacy of mistrust. There was a long-held Catholic belief that Jews were collectively responsible for executing Christ, and a landmark achievement of the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s was a declaration stating the Jews should not be blamed for the crucifixion.

German bishop denounces church's failures

While Cantalamessa delivered his defence of the Pope, the head of Germany's Catholic bishops issued a statement denouncing past failures and mistakes in the church's handling of abuse cases.

Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg said members of the clergy have neglected to help abuse victims by a "wrongly intended desire to protect the church's reputation."

Zollitsch condemned "the appalling crimes of sexual abuse" and urged the German Catholic church to face its painful record on the handling these cases.

The Catholic church in Germany, Benedict's homeland, has been rocked by a widening abuse scandal in recent weeks.

Hundreds of cases of alleged harsh physical punishment in Catholic institutions and cases of alleged sexual abuse — most of them dating back years if not decades  — have been publicized.

In 1980, Benedict himself, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, allowed a pedophile priest to be transferred from the northwestern city of Essen to undergo therapy in Munich, where he was then archbishop.

However, the Munich archdiocese says Benedict wasn't involved in a lower-ranking official's later decision to allow the priest to return to pastoral work. Rev. Peter Hullermann went on to work with youths again and was sentenced for sexual abuse in 1986.

Chance to build faith: Canadian priest

Rev. Thomas Rosica, chief executive of Catholic Salt and Light television in Canada, said the scandal is a "major crisis" for the church.

At the same time, he said it's not fair for the media to reduce recent events to "sentiments of the moment" by asking for reaction from the street.

"Faith is not something of the moment," he told CBC, speaking from Windsor, Fla., where he's assisting with Holy Week services.

"For me, and for Christians and for priests, Good Friday is always a sad day. It's the death of our dearest member. It's the death of our Lord.

"This particular year has some added significance. There's a certain depth of sadness there because of the real crisis, the pandemic I would call it, that's erupted in Europe and in different places.

"So it gives us an opportunity to pray more and to be very forthright in how we explain the passion of Jesus continuing in the world and the church today," he said.

Rosica said Christians, and Catholics particularly, are aware of the scandal and are "extremely sensitive" to it, but he denied that it has shaken their faith.