Bishops' fury at BBC attack on Pope over abuse claims

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Bishops condemned last night's BBC1 Panorama special as an "unwarranted, prejudiced attack on a revered world religious leader".

Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, president of the Bishops' Conference, is writing to protest to Mark Thompson, director general of the BBC.

The documentary, Sex Crimes And The Vatican, claimed to reveal how in 2001, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - as the Pope was then - issued a 'secret Vatican edict' telling the world's Catholic bishops to put the Church before children's safety.

The programme said he advised Church leaders to encourage complainants, the accused and witnesses to talk about abuse allegations rather than report them to the police.

It described the document as an updated version of a 1962 Vatican order which, it claimed, laid down the rules for covering up sex scandals.

The film claimed the 39-page document - Crimen Sollicitationis - was enforced for 20 years by Cardinal Ratzinger. It includes an oath of secrecy, enforceable by excommunication, which critics say could hinder investigations and prosecution.

Father Tom Doyle, a canon lawyer sacked from the Vatican after criticising its handling of child abuse, said it was an explicit written policy to cover up abuse, emphasising the total control of the Vatican and giving no mention to victims.

But the Church said the document was not directly concerned with child abuse at all, but with the misuse of the confessional.

Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Birmingham, issued a statement last night on behalf of the Church in England and Wales revealing the bishops' anger.

He said: "The BBC should be ashamed of the journalism used to create this unwarranted attack on Pope Benedict XVI."

He singled out "sensational tactics and misleading editing, old footage and undated interviews".

He said Panorama misrepresented two documents and "uses them misleadingly to connect the horrors of child abuse to the person of the Pope".

The BBC stood by Panorama, adding: "The protection of children is of the strongest public interest."