**The Pope’s preacher has apologised for comparing criticism of the Catholic Church over child abuse to “collective violence suffered by the Jews”.**Fr Raniero Cantalamessa said Pope Benedict XVI had not known the remarks would be included in his Friday sermon.
At Easter Mass in St Peter’s Square a senior cardinal, Angelo Sodano, said the faithful were not affected by the “petty gossip” of the moment.
He was referring to a child sex-abuse scandal that has engulfed the Church.
Allegations of abuse - many dating back decades - have emerged recently in countries including Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria, the Pope’s native Germany and the US, as well as Ireland.
Fr Cantalamessa’s comments provoked anger among Jewish groups and victims of sex abuse.
In an interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper published on Sunday, he said he was sorry and had no intention of hurting feelings of Jewish people or victims of abuse.
The Vatican said earlier that Fr Cantalamessa’s remarks did not represent its official view.This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.