The media has exaggerated a sex scandal that has shaken the US Roman Catholic Church and unfairly tainted thousands of priests with overzealous coverage, Pope John Paul's top aide said today.
"The scandals in the United States received disproportionate attention from the media," Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano said in an interview with the Reutersnews agency.
"There are thieves in every country, but it's hard to say that everyone is a thief."
Boston was the epicentre of a scandal that swept the United States last year after it was discovered that several American dioceses had transferred priests known to have abused children from parish to parish without alerting the public.
Similar scandals later came to light in dioceses around the world, prompting discontent among rank-and-file Catholics.
Cardinal Sodano, who is second only to the pope in the Vatican hierarchy, said there were more than 48,000 US priests.
"The vast majority are generous pastors," said Cardinal Sodano (75) speaking in the ornate chambers of the Vatican's Apostolic Palace. "Why should there be so much aggressiveness towards them, and so many unjust generalisations?"
The archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law, resigned last December after dozens of his own priests publicly called on him to step down, but the effects of the scandal still linger.
Last month the Archdiocese of Boston agreed to pay up to $85 million to settle lawsuits filed by hundreds of people who say they were sexually abused by clergy.
On Thursday the Pope decried the behaviour of some priests in a veiled reference to the scandals. "The scandalous behaviour of a few has undermined the credibility of many," the pope said.