By Corky Siemaszko
New York Daily News
April 2, 2010
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/04/02/2010-04-02_vatican_preacher_blaming_pope_for_sex_abuse_scandal_like_most_shameful_aspects_o.html
VATICAN CITY -- A Vatican preacher yesterday likened criticizing the Pope for the latest pedophile priest scandal to persecuting the Jews.
The Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa made the startling parallel at a Good Friday service at St. Peter's Basilica with Pope Benedict in the audience.
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| Pope Benedict XVI attended the mass where the startling comparison was made. |
Within hours, the Vatican distanced the Pope from the remarks, with a spokesman saying they were "not an official position of the Catholic Church."
But the official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano ran the text of Cantalamessa's homily in full.
For centuries, Cantalamessa said, Jews have been the victims of "collective violence." And now, the priest said, the entire Catholic Church is under attack.
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| Father Raniero Cantalamessa told the assembled at St. Peter's Basilica that Jews have for centuries been the victims of "collective violence." |
Quoting a letter sent to him by an unnamed Jewish friend, Cantalamessa said he was "following with disgust the violent and concentric attacks against the Church, the Pope."
"'The use of stereotypes, the shifting of personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt remind me of the most shameful aspects of anti-Semitism,' " he quoted from the letter.
Cantalamessa read the letter at a "Passion of the Lord" service, at which Catholics commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
His remarks drew immediate outrage from Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League, who blasted Cantalamessa for making such an "offensive comparison ... in the presence of the Pope."
The fact that the priest chose to do so on Good Friday "indicates the depth of his ignorance," he said. "It's sad and ironic," Foxman said. "Good Friday is the day that, for hundreds of years, Jews hid in their basements because Jews were blamed by the Catholic Church for crucifying Christ."
This year's runup to Easter has been marred by accusations that the Pope and other church leaders mishandled or covered up sexual abuse.
Adding his voice to those criticizing the church, Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, has told the BBC that the Catholic Church in Ireland is "losing all credibility" because of abuse scandals, the Times of London reported.
Contact: csiemaszko@nydailynews.com
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