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Meanwhile, the leaders of the Holy See, more and more disgusted, sought to dismiss the criticisms made by several Western media.

Relations between the Church and the press have become increasingly rough, as the scandal threatens to reach the Pope himself. On Wednesday, the Church, which has 1,000 million followers worldwide, criticized the information published by The New York Times.

Several Western news organizations, including The Associated Press, have extensively reported on the growing scandal, and almost daily new details have emerged about the same.

Holy Thursday, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated in the Basilica of St. Peter”s church, dedicated to the union between the pope and the priests of the world. After dark, washed t1000he feet of 12 priests in a ceremony that symbolized humility and commemorating the Last Supper of Christ with his 12 apostles on the eve of Good Friday, where tradition says Jesus was crucified.

Although some hoped that the Pope spoke of the scandal, Benedict made no reference to it in any of the ceremonies.

Cardinal of Venice, Angelo Scola, Benedict expressed solidarity during his homily on Holy Thursday in the city. Scola said the victim of “misleading allegations” and praised the pope, considering that tries to get all the “dirt” of the priesthood.

Warsaw Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz said the Church should take into account the individual tragedies and treat very seriously cases of sexual abuse. But simultaneously, he criticized the press for “point to the whole Church, point to the Pope.”

“That”s what we have to say #39, not #39, in the name of truth and justice, “he said.

And the Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, who spoke of the long years of Benedict in front of a Vatican office that investigates abuse, said Joseph Ratzinger , the future pope, “had a very clear mandate not to conceal but to clarify.”

Church on Wednesday issued its highest-ranking response to date to one of the most scandalous revelations _ a report recently published by the Times about the decision taken in the 1990s not to terminate a priest in Wisconsin, accused of raping deaf children.

In an article Wednesday Web page of the Vatican, Cardinal William Levada, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wrote: “I”m not proud of the morning”s most influential United States, The New York Times, as a paradigm of equity.”

Levada, an American, said the newspaper erroneously used the case of the priest Lawrence Benedict Murphy to blame for the handling of sexual abuse.

A Times spokeswoman defended the articles and said no one has expressed doubts about the facts reported.

“The allegations of abuse within the Catholic Church represent a serious issue, as the Vatican has on several occasions, “said Diane McNulty. “Any role the current Pope has had to respond to these allegations for years is a significant aspect of this news.”

Cardinal Levada said in an article on the Vatican website to judge Murphy had been “useless” because he was dying when his diocese initiated a canonical process.