ROME | The Vatican sprang to Pope Benedict XVI's defense Saturday amid accusations that he tried to hush up reports of clergy sexual abuse and failed to adequately punish an offending priest in his native Germany before becoming pontiff.

Senior Vatican officials denounced the allegations as part of a smear campaign against the pope, who they say is committed to confronting the problem and cracking down on abusers.

Reporting from Rome and London The Vatican sprang to Pope Benedict XVI's defense Saturday amid accusations that he tried to hush up reports of clergy sexual abuse and failed to adequately punish an offending priest in his native Germany before becoming pontiff.

Senior Vatican officials denounced the allegations as part of a smear campaign against the pope, who they say is committed to confronting the problem and cracking down on abusers.

ROME - As new details emerged on allegations of child sexual abuse by priests in the Munich archdiocese then led by Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican spoke out on Saturday to protect the pope against what it called an aggressive campaign against him in his native Germany.

At the same time, a high-ranking Vatican official overseeing internal investigations acknowledged that 3,000 cases of suspected abuse of minors had come to its attention in the past decade, of which 20 percent had been brought to trial in Vatican courts.

Pope Benedict has had to deal with sex abuse scandals in various countries

The Vatican has denounced attempts to link Pope Benedict to a child abuse scandal in his native Germany.

A Vatican spokesman said there had been "aggressive" efforts to involve the Pope, but added: "It's clear that these attempts have failed."

The Holy See's prosecutor told Avvenire newspaper that "to accuse the current pope of hiding (abuse cases) is false".

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican on Saturday denounced what it called aggressive attempts to drag Pope Benedict XVI into the spreading scandals of pedophile priests in his German homeland, and contended he has long confronted abuse cases with courage.

In separate interviews, both the Holy See's spokesman and its prosecutor for sex abuse of minors by clergy sought to defend the pope.

After decades of similar scandals in the United States, Ireland and elsewhere, the sex abuse scandal moved closer to Benedict in recent days.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican rallied around Pope Benedict on Saturday, dismissing suggestions he had tried to cover up priestly child abuse in Germany.

"It's rather clear that in recent days there have been people who have searched -- with notable tenacity in Regensberg and Munich -- for elements to personally involve the Holy Father in the question of the abuses," Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told Vatican Radio.

VATICAN CITY | Germany's sex abuse scandal has now reached Pope Benedict XVI: His former archdiocese acknowledged it transferred a suspected pedophile priest while Benedict was in charge and criticism is mounting over a 2001 Vatican directive he penned instructing bishops to keep abuse cases secret.

The revelations have put the spotlight on Benedict's handling of abuse claims both when he was archbishop of Munich from 1977-1982 and then the prefect of the Vatican office that deals with such crimes - a position he held until his 2005 election as pope.

VATICAN CITY-A burgeoning sex-abuse scandal among German priests escalated on Friday with a disclosure by Pope Benedict XVI's former archdiocese, which said a priest known to the church as a sex abuser had been returned to pastoral work there while Benedict was the presiding archbishop in 1980.

The priest later was convicted of a fresh abuse incident within the Munich-Freising archdiocese.

The archdiocese's top administrative deputy took "full responsibility" for the decision to return the priest to work, and Benedict XVI-at that time the Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger-was unaware of it despite his position, said a statement by the archdiocese. But ...

VATICAN CITY-Germany's sex abuse scandal has now reached Pope Benedict XVI: His former archdiocese disclosed that while he was archbishop a suspected pedophile priest was transferred to a job where he later abused children.

The pontiff is also under increasing fire for a 2001 Vatican document he later penned instructing bishops to keep such cases secret.

The revelations have put the spotlight on Benedict's handling of abuse claims both when he was archbishop of Munich from 1977-1982 and then the prefect of the Vatican office that deals with such crimes -- a position he held until his 2005 election as pope.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Pope Benedict was involved in a decision to move a priest suspected of child abuse to his diocese for therapy when he was an archbishop in 1980, his former diocese in southern Germany said on Friday.

The priest was moved to the diocese of Munich and Freising in January 1980 at the request of the diocese of Essen, and still works in the southern district, the Munich diocese said.

"The then archbishop took part in this decision," said the Munich diocese, of which the pontiff -- then Joseph Ratzinger -- was archbishop from 1977 to 1981.

Pope Benedict XVI's former German diocese said Friday it made a mistake when the pontiff was archbishop in allowing a priest suspected to have abused a child to return to pastoral work. However, it said Benedict was unaware of the decision.

The chaplain was sent to Munich in 1980 for therapy, the Munich archdiocese said in a statement. The diocese says it was made aware of the case by the Munich-based daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung in Munich, which first reported on it.

BERLIN -- Catholic authorities in Germany announced two major abuse investigations Wednesday - one into the renowned choir once led by Pope Benedict XVI's brother and another more general look into what everyone, including the pope, knew about the sexual and physical abuse of students.

The Roman Catholic diocese of Regensburg in southern Germany appointed an independent investigator to examine the allegations of physical and sexual abuse that have engulfed the prestigious Regensburger Domspatzen boys choir, which was led by the Rev. Georg Ratzinger, the pope's older brother, from 1964 until 1994. So far, the sexual abuse allegations predate Ratzinger's term.

BERLIN -- An apology by the pope's brother for not doing anything to stop the abuse of students in the 1960s is a "wonderful sign" that the church plans to get to the bottom of the allegations, a top Roman Catholic prelate said Wednesday.

Prelate Karl Juesten, the liaison between Catholic bishops and the German government, told The Associated Press that the Rev. Georg Ratzinger's apology to the victims was an act of courage.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican has launched an appeal for support for Christians in the Holy Land, seeking to stem the exodus from the ancient community.

The annual appeal, announced Monday, seeks to raise funds for schools, housing, scholarships and the restoration of Christian sites.

Members of the region's once large and prosperous communities are increasingly leaving conflict-ridden areas, including Iraq and the Palestinian territories, to seek better lives in the West.

ROME (AP) - The brother of Pope Benedict XVI has told a newspaper he is willing to testify in the sex scandal rocking Germany's Catholic Church, even though he says he knows nothing about the alleged abuse of boys in a choir he later led.

The Rev. Georg Ratzinger, in an interview published Sunday, also was quoted as saying by the Rome daily La Repubblica that there was "discipline and rigor" but no terror during his 30 years as head of the Regensburger Domspatzen choir in Germany.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI will make a two-day visit to Spain in November, with a stop in Barcelona to consecrate the famed Sagrada Familia church, the Vatican's spokesman said Wednesday.

The pope will first go to the western pilgrimage city of Santiago de Compostela on Nov. 6, the Rev. Federico Lombardi told reporters. The visit is part of celebrations held whenever the Feast Day of St. James - July 25 - falls on a Sunday, as it does this year.

Pope Benedict XVI will this year visit Spain, which last month passed a law easing access to abortion over fierce opposition from the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican announced on Wednesday.

Benedict's second trip to the predominantly Catholic country as pontiff will take place on November 6 and 7, with stops in Santiago de Compostela and Barcelona.

Spain's new law allows abortion on demand up to the 14th week of pregnancy and up to 22 weeks if there is a risk to the mother's health or if the foetus has serious problems, in line with most European Union nations.

VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican says the number of Catholics as a percentage of the worldwide faithful is growing slightly.

The Holy See says that from 2007 to 2008 Roman Catholics grew from 17.33 percent of the global population to 17.4 percent.

The statistics are included in a yearbook presented Saturday to Pope Benedict XVI.

The yearbook says the number of priests rose from 2000-2008 but that the number of nuns worldwide fell 7.8 percent.

Pope Benedict XVI has announced that Mary MacKillop, a Catholic nun who had dedicated her life to educating and caring for the poor, will become Australia's first saint.

The pope made the announcement Friday during a ceremony at the Vatican.

MacKillop was born near Melbourne in 1842 to Scottish immigrants. She was known for her work educating the poor and is said to have built her first school in a abandoned stable.

a 19th-century nun who was briefly excommunicated is to become australia's first saint, pope benedict xvi announced today. mother mary mackillop, whose work building schools, orphanages and clinics for impoverished people did much to help spread