something I’ve never understood

“Pope Benedict XVI has tackled one of the most controversial and critical issues in Christianity in a new book, making a sweeping exoneration of the Jewish people in the death of Jesus Christ.”

Remind me… what was the ethnic background of Jesus, again?

Not to be harsh, because it’s too easy to take cheap shots at the Catholic Church, but “Wehrmacht veteran exonerates Jews for killing a Jew” comes off a bit out-of-tune.

2011 is also probably a bit late to be offering “sweeping exonerations” of this sort.