Preacher sorry for anti-Semitism link

Cantalamessa "didn't mean" to hurt sensibilities of Jews, pedophilia victims.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Raniero Cantalamessa 311 (photo credit: AP)
Raniero Cantalamessa 311
(photo credit: AP)
Pope Benedict XVI's personal preacher on Sunday apologized for likening mounting sex abuse cover-up accusations against the pontiff and the Catholic church in the sex abuse scandal to "collective violence" suffered by the Jews.
The preacher, the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, told the Corriere della Sera daily in an interview that he had no intention "of hurting the sensibilities of the Jews and of the victims of pedophilia."
"I have sincerely regretted and I ask forgiveness, reaffirming my solidarity with both" lobbies, he was quoted as saying.
Meanhwhile, a senior cardinal defended Benedict from "petty gossip" as the pontiff maintained his silence on the sex abuse accusations during his Easter message.
The ringing tribute by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, at the start of Mass attended by tens of thousands of faithful in St. Peter's Square, marked an unusual departure from the Vatican's Easter rituals.
Sodano's defense of the pope's "unfailing" leadership and courage, as well as of the work of priests worldwide with children entrusted to their care, built on a vigorous Vatican campaign to defend Benedict's moral authority.
The pontiff and other church leaders have been assailed by accusations from victims of clergy sexual abuse that he helped shape and perpetuate a climate of cover-up toward the crimes against children in parishes, schools, orphanages and other church-run institutions.
Dressed in gold robes and shielded from a cool drizzle by a canopy, Benedict looked weary as he listened to Sodano's speech at the start of Mass in the cobblestone square bedecked with daffodils, tulips and azaleas.
"With this spirit today we rally close around you, successor to (St.) Peter, bishop of Rome, the unfailing rock of the holy church," Sodano said. "Holy Father, on your side are the people of God, who do not allow themselves to be influenced by the petty gossip of the moment, by the trials which sometimes buffet the community of believers."
At the end of the two-hour long ceremony, Benedict delivered the papacy's traditional Easter "Urbi et Orbi" message, analyzing humanity's failings and hopes.
Benedict singled out the "trials and sufferings" of Christians in Iraq and Pakistan, noting that these believers have risked persecution and death for their faith. He urged hope for the people of Haiti and Chile, devastated by earthquakes. He said Easter could "signal the victory of peaceful coexistence and respect" in crime-ravaged areas of Latin American countries plagued by drug trafficking and said he would pray for peace in the Middle East.
But, despite repeated appeals by victims of clerical sexual abuse that he take responsibility for his role in the handling of pedophile priests, he stayed silent on that issue. The victims contend there were decades of systematic cover-up by bishops in many countries, including the United States, Ireland and Benedict's native Germany.
They want him to demand the resignations of bishops complicit in any conspiracy to shield pedophile priests by shuffling them from parish to parish instead of kicking them out of the priesthood.
The accusations against the pope stem from his leadership as archbishop of Munich before he came to the Vatican three decades ago, as well as his long tenure in Rome of the Holy See's office dealing with a growing pile of dossiers about pedophile priests.
Sunday's edition of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano denounced the accusations against the pope as a "vile defamation operation."
Benedict hasn't made any explicit reference to the scandal since hereleased a letter to the Irish faithful concerning the abuse crisis inthat country on March 20.
Sodano defended the church's priests as well as the pontiff.
"Especiallywith you in these days are those 400,000 priests who generously servethe people of God, in parishes, recreation centers, schools, hospitalsand many other places, as well as in the missions in the most remoteparts of the world," the cardinal said.