A senior Vatican official criticized Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday for a joke about Jews that was caught on video and posted on the website of the La Repubblica newspaper.
Talking to a group of youths outside his Rome residence on Tuesday evening, Berlusconi told a joke about a Jewish family hiding another Jew for a hefty rent, without telling him World War II was over.
"Berlusconi should apologise to all Italians, first of all to believers," Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, a senior vatican official, told La Reppublica.
"The head of government isn't just anyone, and none of his actions and words, either in public or private, go unnoticed. The damage can be irreparable," he saidю
The Vatican weekly l'Osservatore Romano described the remarks as "deplorable", offensive to both "believers and to the memory of the six million victims of the Shoah."
The remark was also criticised by a former leader of Italy's Jewish community and by the Italian Catholic church.