VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Vatican said yesterday it was wrong to focus blame for child abuse on the Catholic Church and denied accusations it had sought to cover up paedophilia by its clergymen around Europe.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi acknowledged the “gravity of the crisis the Church is undergoing” after fresh allegations surfaced in recent weeks of widespread sexual abuse by clergymen in Germany, Austria and Holland.

But he denied allegations by a German government minister that the Vatican had colluded to cover up paedophilia. Reports last month alleged that Catholic priests had sexually abused over 100 children at Jesuit schools there.

“Errors committed by the institutions and members of the Church are particularly reprehensible given the Church’s educational and moral responsibility,” Lombardi told Vatican Radio.

“But every objective and well-informed person knows that the issue is much broader, and concentrating accusations on the Church alone gets things out of perspective,” he said.

Lombardi cited a recent report by Austrian authorities which detailed 17 cases of abuse in institutions linked to the Catholic Church, but 510 in other organisations. “It would be good to worry about these as well,” he said.