NEW YORK (CNS) -- Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York told Catholics March 28 that the "tidal wave of headlines" about the sexual abuse of minors in Europe and new stories about an old case in Wisconsin have "knocked us to our knees once again."

"Anytime this horror, vicious sin and nauseating crime is reported, as it needs to be, victims and their families are wounded again, the vast majority of faithful priests bow their heads in shame anew, and sincere Catholics experience another dose of shock, sorrow and even anger," he said at the end of Palm Sunday Mass.

"What deepens the sadness now is the unrelenting insinuations against the Holy Father himself, as certain sources seem frenzied to implicate the man who, perhaps more than anyone else has been the leader in purification, reform and renewal that the church so needs," he said.

After a series of reports in the New York Times and other media criticizing the pope for alleged "inaction" on sex abuse cases, Vatican authorities emphasized that it was Pope Benedict XVI, who, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, pushed for harsher measures against abusers and made it easier for the church to defrock them.

Another Times story faulted the Vatican for a decision made years ago not to laicize a Wisconsin priest who sexually abused deaf children, despite the recommendation of his bishop that he be removed from the priesthood.

In a statement the Vatican said that by the time it learned of the case in the late 1990s, the priest was elderly and in poor health. The Vatican eventually suggested the priest continue to be restricted in ministry instead of laicized, and he died four months later.

Archbishop Dolan said Sunday Mass is not the place "to document the inaccuracy, bias and hyperbole of aspersions" against Pope Benedict but Mass is "indeed the time for Catholics to pray" for him.

"Palm Sunday Mass is sure a fitting place for us to express our love and solidarity for our earthly shepherd now suffering some of the same unjust accusations, shouts of the mob and scourging at the pillar, as did Jesus," the archbishop said.

He added that no one has been "more vigorous in cleansing the church of the effects of this sickening sin" than the man who is now pope.

He said the pope himself has asked for scrutiny of how the church handled abuse cases in the past, "encouraging complete honesty, at the same time expressing contrition and urging a thorough cleansing."

"All we ask is that it be fair, and that the Catholic Church not be singled out for a horror that has cursed every culture, religion, organization, institution, school, agency and family in the world," Archbishop Dolan said.

On March 25 Joseph Zwilling, spokesman for the New York Archdiocese, issued a statement asking the Times to correct references to Cardinal Edward M. Egan, retired archbishop of New York, that were made in an editorial published that day criticizing the Vatican's handling of the clergy abuse scandal in European countries.

One line of the editorial claimed Cardinal Egan and Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles had "mismanaged" some cases of priests accused of abuse.

Zwilling said that during Cardinal Egan's years as the bishop of Bridgeport, Conn., followed by his tenure as New York's archbishop, "there was no known incident of the abuse of minors by priests in the cardinal's care."

"The case that is described in the report to which the Times editorial refers has to do with events before the cardinal's tenure (in New York) and was correctly handled by the cardinal and his collaborators," he said.

Zwilling said during the cardinal's time as bishop of Bridgeport, accusations a priest had abused minors were never proved, "despite careful questioning by diocesan staff and counsel" and by highly qualified psychiatric professionals. But then-Bishop Egan suspended the priest from active ministry. Later, after he became cardinal of New York, Zwilling said, "new information about the priest's conduct emerged, and he was dismissed from the priesthood."

"The case was handled both carefully and appropriately," Zwilling said.

A March 29 statement from the Los Angeles Archdiocese said Cardinal Mahony "has admitted that in hindsight, he had made mistakes in dealing with some cases on his watch. But these were mistakes of believing the lies of some of these priests and putting too much faith in therapeutic approaches to the problem."

"That is far different than the 'coverup' alleged by the N.Y. Times. Moreover, more than 95 percent of claims in Los Angeles were previously unknown until 2002, making accusations of coverup ridiculous," it said.

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