The editor of a US-based Catholic news service has attacked the Vatican's spokesman for calling for increased gun control.Phil Lawler of Catholic World News in a blog posting criticised Fr Federico Lombardi, who in an editorial for Vatican Radio described the gun control reforms proposed by President Barack Obama as "a step in the right direction".
Mr Lawler stressed that Fr Lombardi's views were his own and not those of Pope Benedict XVI and said that his call for disarmament was "mis-informed" and went "well beyond what the Church teaches".
Last week in a press conference at Capitol Hill and in a letter to Congress, an alliance of religious leaders brought together by Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence, which includes the US bishops' conference, petitioned lawmakers to reinstitute a ban on assault weapons, require background checks on all gun buyers, and make gun trafficking a federal crime.