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On Good Friday, criticism of pope likened to anti-Semitism
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On Good Friday, criticism of pope likened to anti-Semitism
AFP - 39 minutes ago
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ROME (AFP) - – The Vatican preacher said Friday that criticism of the Roman Catholic Church over paedophilia scandals was similar to anti-Semitism, citing a letter of solidarity from a "Jewish friend" during a Good Friday observance.
"The stereotyping, the transfer of personal responsibility and blame to a collective blame reminds me of the most shameful aspects of anti-Semitism," the friend wrote, according to Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher to the Papal Household at the Vatican.
"I have followed with disgust the violent attack... against the Church (and) the pope," said the letter read out by Cantalamessa during the ceremony at St Peter's Basilica as Pope Benedict XVI looked on.
Speaking on the theme of violence, Cantalamessa -- by tradition the only person allowed to preach to the pope -- said he would not refer to that "inflicted on children, with which a consequential number of clergy have been tarnished (because) it is being discussed enough elsewhere."
Several Catholic prelates have rallied around the pope ahead of the Easter weekend observances.
The child abuse scandal has engulfed much of Europe and the United States, prompting harsh criticism of the Vatican's handling of the scourge.
With new cases being reported almost daily, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the pope's vicar for Rome, told Vatican Radio that it was a "moment of suffering" for the Church.
Benedict, 82, presided over a traditional procession later Friday at Rome's Colosseum re-enacting Jesus Christ's final hours and crucifixion.
Tens of thousands of pilgrims holding candles attended the ceremony outside the imposing monument, which was dramatically lit up, as the pope looked on from a stage on the Palatine hill overlooking the site.
The pope faces allegations that, as archbishop of Munich and later as the Vatican's chief morals enforcer, he helped to protect predator priests.
The head of the Catholic Church in the pope's native Germany, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, said Good Friday must "mark a new departure which we so badly need."
Dozens of people have come forward in Germany alleging they were abused as minors by priests. Most cases date back years if not decades.
Zollitsch said the abuse cases filled Catholics' heart with "pain, fear, and shame," lamenting that many victims had been "unable to express their pain in words for decades."
In his own archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau, the Church said a special prayer for victims during Good Friday services.
"Pray for the children and the young who, in the middle of the people of God and in the Church community, were wronged, abused and wounded in their body and soul," the prayer said.
France has become the latest European country to implicate paedophile priests.
A lawyer for Father Jacques Gaimard, director of a Christian radio station in northern France, said he had admitted sexually assaulting a boy in the early 1990s and saw his arrest as a "deliverance" after years of private torment.
In another case, a parish priest near the French city of Rouen, Father Philippe Richir, is suspected of possessing paedophile pornography. Related article: French priest admits child abuse
An Austrian victim support group said Friday it has received reports of 174 more cases of maltreatment and sexual abuse in Catholic institutions since creating a hotline two weeks ago.
"We are learning daily about the methods of education in Catholic institutions in Austria during the 1960s and 1970s," said Holger Eich, a psychologist from the Platform for Victims of Violence by the Church.
Vatican expert Bruno Bartoloni said the Church was going through its "hardest period since the publication (in 1968) of the 'Humanae Vitae' (Of Human Life)" -- a papal encyclical by pope Paul VI that attacked use of the birth control pill as a mortal sin.
"At that time the crisis was as deep, with personal attacks against the pope and the Church in general," Bartoloni told AFP.
On Saturday, Benedict will hold an Easter vigil in St Peter's Square, where he will also celebrate Easter mass on Sunday to be followed by his "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world) blessing.
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