Tarring the Pope for the latest pedophile priest scandal is like "the most shameful aspects of anti-Semitism." That startling parallel was raised Friday by a Vatican preacher at a service attended by Pope Benedict himself.
Father Raniero Cantalamessa told the assembled at St. Peter's Basilica that Jews have for centuries been the victims of "collective violence."
And now, the priest said, the entire Catholic Church is under attack. Quoting a letter sent to him by a 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.