The Vatican has denounced attempts to involve the pope in scandals surrounding paedophile activity within the Catholic Church.

A PR campaign to defend the reputation of the pontiff has been launched after allegations were made over an alleged paedophile priest, who was simply ordered to do community work by the Munich archdiocese while Pope Benedict was archbishop there.

The spreading scandals of paedophile priests in the pope’s German homeland have snowballed, after it was found that a 2001 church directive he wrote, while a Vatican cardinal, instructed bishops to keep abuse cases confidential.

Germany's justice minister has blamed the directive for lack of prosecutions in many of the cases.

The church has denied any cover-ups and has called allegations against the pope as false and defamatory, as he never made a rule on sexual abuse which called for a ban on making a complaint to civil authorities.

Some bishops in other countries though, have said the document was widely taken to mean they shouldn't go to police.