Vatican Priest: Church Attacks Like Anti-Semitism

(April 2) -- While Pope Benedict XVI watched somberly near the central altar, a senior Vatican priest used his Good Friday homily at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome to compare recent attacks on the Catholic Church to anti-Semitism.

The Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa quoted from what he said was a letter from an unnamed Jewish friend, who said the "violent" attacks on the Catholic Church reminded him of the persecution of the Jews.

"I am following the violent and concentric attacks against the church, the pope and all the faithful by the whole word," he said, quoting the friend's letter.

"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."

Comparing the onslaught of allegations against Benedict and the Vatican to the persecution of the Jews was the strongest volley yet in the church's growing counterattack on its accusers in the Catholic sex abuse scandals.

Cantalamessa's remarks came a week after the Italian left-center daily newspaper La Repubblica published an article about the criticism of the Vatican implying that "certain Catholic circles" blamed the attacks on "a New York 'Jewish lobby.' "

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told The New York Times that Cantalamessa's sermon came from him alone and should not be considered an official statement from the Vatican.

He said Benedict had no role in crafting Cantalamessa's remarks and that furthermore the sermon should be construed simply as an example of a Jew who felt "solidarity" with the Vatican.

Cantalamessa, who wore the Franciscan brown cassock during his sermon, has held the title of preacher in the papal household since 1980.

Cantalamessa also said during his sermon that the "coincidence" that Easter and Passover occur around the same time this year made him reflect on how Jews have been persecuted, and thus recognize the signs of being under attack and victimized.

"They 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," he said.

Jewish leaders reacted swiftly in response to Cantalamessa's remarks.

"The comparison between allegations of pedophilia against the Catholic Church and anti-Semitism are cruel and misguided and constitutes an unforgivable trivialization of the crime of anti-Semitism," author and TV host Rabbi Shmuley Boteach told AOL News.

"I sympathize with some officials in the church feeling under siege, but this is utterly unrelated to the hatred born of racial and religious persecution such as that which Jews have endured for 2,000 years."

Cantalamessa's decision to compare Jewish persecution to the Vatican's troubles indicates how grievously the Vatican feels under assault during more than six weeks of coverage about charges of clerical sex abuse, in particular reports from Wisconsin and Germany that suggested some knowledge on the part of the pope when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

Scandals involving pedophile priests have erupted in Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Brazil and Italy amid new twists in similar cases in the U.S.

In the past two weeks, the church has been strongly on the counterattack, beginning with a screed last week in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that referred to the media's "despicable" effort to smear the pope "at any cost."

During remarks on Palm Sunday, the pope said he would not be "intimidated by the petty gossip of dominant opinion."

The Rev. William Levada, an American priest who took over the Council for the Doctrine of the Faith when Ratzinger became pope, posted on the Vatican Web site Wednesday a strong denunciation of The New York Times for what he called inaccurate and misleading coverage of the scandals and the "silly parroting" of columnist Maureen Dowd.

David Clohessy, an advocate for sex abuse victims in the U.S., told the Times that Cantalamessa's remarks about the Jews were "breathtakingly callous and misguided."

"Men who deliberately and consistently hide child sex crime are in no way victims," he said. "And to conflate public scrutiny with horrific violence is about as wrong as wrong can be."