Toronto's Catholic archbishop alluded to the church's latest troubles regarding sexual abuse scandals involving priests and allegations of cover-ups.

Archbishop Thomas Collins said in his Good Friday mass at St. Michael's church that no one is granted immunity to the forms of temptations to which the human heart is vulnerable.

"It is something of which we are conscious of even more in these days," he said. "As we are painfully reminded, the disciples chosen by Christ to be apostles betrayed him, and grievously betrayed the innocent ones entrusted their care."

However, in Rome, the personal preacher of Pope Benedict XVI compared the allegations that the Pope had been involved in efforts to cover up sexual abuse scandals to "the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism."

As a storm of reaction gathered, the Vatican distanced itself from the remarks of the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa.

The one-billion-member Roman Catholic church has been periodically rocked in recent years by sexual abuse scandals involving some of its priests.

In recent days, Germany's archbishop has said the church had consciously covered up cases of sexual abuse involving priests.

On March 20, the Pope apologized to Irish victims of childhood sexual abuse by priests.

However, critics pounced on Benedict for ignoring any Vatican responsibility for what happened. They also noted the letter didn't mention any specific punishment for bishops identified as being responsible for covering up the abuse.

The church said the letter was pastoral in nature and wasn't meant to be administrative or disciplinary.

But the Pope had also refused the offers of three Irish bishops to resign.

Some critics have accused the Pope of being directly involved in coverups as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for Pope John Paul II.

The church's establishment has been fighting back, defending the Pope and criticizing media coverage.

Earlier in the week, Collins told priests in his archdiocese that they should be grateful for the media attention paid to the sins of the clergy, even if the attention leaves the false impression that the clergy are particularly sinful.

Priests should be held to a higher standard, he said.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney