VATICAN CITY – The Vatican heatedly defended Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday, claiming accusations that he helped cover up the actions of pedophile priests are part of an anti-Catholic "hate" campaign targeting the pope for his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.

Vatican Radio broadcast comments by two senior cardinals explaining "the motive for these attacks" on the pope.

"The pope defends life and the family, based on marriage between a man and a woman, in a world in which powerful lobbies would like to impose a completely different" agenda, Spanish Cardinal Julian Herranz, head of the disciplinary commission for Holy See officials, was quoted as saying.

Herranz didn't identify the alleged lobbies, but "defense of life" is Vatican shorthand for anti-abortion efforts.

Also rallying to Benedict's side was Italian Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, who heads the Vatican City State's governing apparatus.

The pope "has done all that he could have" against sex abuse by clergy of minors, Lajolo said on the radio, decrying what he described as a campaign of "hatred against the Catholic church."

Sex abuse allegations, as well as accusations of cover-ups by diocesan bishops and Vatican officials, have swept across Europe in recent weeks. Benedict has been criticized for not halting the actions of abusive priests when he was a Vatican cardinal and earlier while he was the archbishop of Munich in his native Germany.

The mainland European scandals — in Germany, Italy, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland — are erupting after decades of abuse cases in the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland and other areas.

In Germany, nearly 2,700 people called the church's sexual abuse hotline in the first three days it was operating, a Catholic church spokesman said Tuesday.

A team of psychologists and other experts have spoken with 394 people so far, ranging from several minutes up to an hour, Trier Diocese spokesman Stephan Kronenburg said.

"Most callers reported cases of sexual abuse," he told The Associated Press.

Benedict has ignored victims' demands that he accept responsibility for what they say is his own personal and institutional responsibility for failing to swiftly kick abusive priests out of the priesthood, or at least keep them away from children.

But he has been protected by a vanguard of senior Vatican prelates who are fending off what they contend is an orchestrated attempt to attack the leader of the world's more than 1 billion Catholics.

The Vatican No. 2 official, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, indicated to reporters who asked him about the pontiff's silence that Benedict was standing firm.

"He's a strong pope, the pope of the Third Millennium," he told reporters shortly after his arrival in Chile on Tuesday.

Bertone, now the Holy See's secretary of state but formerly Benedict's deputy when the future pope, then-called Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, headed the Vatican's morals office, has himself been swept up in the scandals.

During a May 1998 meeting at the Vatican, Bertone told Wisconsin bishops to halt a church trial against an ailing priest who was accused of sexually abusing 200 deaf children, according to a Vatican transcript. The priest died soon afterward.

"It's not true, it's not true! We have documented the opposite," the Italian news agency ANSA quoted Bertone as saying in Chile. "Let's not talk about this topic now, because otherwise we'll be here all day verifying precisely the action taken by me and by his eminence, Cardinal Ratzinger."

On Easter, the most important day in the Catholic faith, the Vatican broke with tradition and began its service in St. Peter's Square with a ringing defense of Benedict delivered by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano.

In an interview Tuesday in Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Sodano said the church is "certainly" suffering because of pedophile priests but he asserted that "Benedict XVI has apologized several times."

"But it's not Christ's fault if Judas betrayed" him, Sodano said. "It's not a bishop's fault if one of his priests is stained by grave wrongdoing. And certainly the pontiff is not responsible."

Vatican Radio, presenting listeners with some of the most vehement counterattacks yet in the weekslong buildup of scandal revelations, depicted the church as a victim.

"There are those who fear the media campaign of anti-Catholic hatred can degenerate," Vatican Radio said.

It noted anti-Catholic graffiti on walls of a church outside Viterbo, a town near Rome, and reminded listeners that a bishop was attacked by a man during Easter Mass in Muenster, Germany. The bishop fought back with an incense bowl.

The radio likened the recent campaign to the persecution suffered by early Christian martyrs. "The crowds, incited by the slanders of the powerful, would lynch the Christians," the radio said.

In Munich, meanwhile, an independent lawyer hired by the Catholic church wrapped up his investigation of abuse allegations at the southern Ettal monastery.

"The investigation clearly shows a system of abuse that lasted for decades," Thomas Pfister told The Associated Press.

There were some cases of sexual abuse at Ettal but most victims who came forward were physically abused and most cases took place before 1990, Pfister said in a telephone interview.

The lawyer declined to elaborate as his final report will be published next week.

___

Associated Press Writer Juergen Baetz in Berlin contributed to this report.

MONTCOAL, W.Va. – A huge underground explosion blamed on methane gas killed 25 miners in the worst U.S. coal mining disaster since 1984, and rescuers on Tuesday began a dangerous and possibly futile attempt to rescue four others still missing.

Crews were bulldozing an access road so they could drill 1,000 feet into the earth to release gases and make it safe to try to find the missing miners. They were feared dead after the Monday afternoon blast at a mine with a history of violations for not properly ventilating highly combustible methane.

Rescuers were being held back by poison gases that accumulated near the blast site, about 1.5 miles from the entrance to Massey Energy Co.'s sprawling Upper Big Branch mine.

They had to create an access road above it before they could begin drilling four shafts to release methane and carbon monoxide. Gov. Joe Manchin said at a news briefing Tuesday that it could be Wednesday night before the first hole is drilled, but rescuers had to try.

"I don't want to give anybody any false hope, but by golly if I'm on that side of the table and that's my father or my brother or my uncle or my cousins, I'm going to have hope," he said.

It had already been a long day for grieving relatives, some angry because they learned their loved ones were among the dead from government officials, not from Massey Energy executives.

"They're supposed to be a big company," said Michelle McKinney, who found out from a local official at a nearby school that her 62-year-old father, Benny R. Willingham, died in the blast. He was due to retire in five weeks after 30 years mining, 17 with Massey. "These guys, they took a chance every day to work and make them big. And they couldn't even call us."

Manchin said a Massey official apologized to family members Tuesday morning in response to complaints that they were not notified of the deaths.

U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., who talked with a widow of a miner who had not heard from the company Monday evening, took a harsher stance at a press briefing.

"I think it's overdue," he said. "I think this contact is needed."

Three members of the same family were among the dead. Diana Davis said her husband, Timmy Davis, 51, died in the explosion along with his nephews, Josh Napper, 27, and Cory Davis, 20.

The elder Davis' son, Timmy Davis Jr., said his brother, Cody Davis, and an uncle, Tommy Davis, survived the blast. His brother was taking it particularly hard because he and their father were best friends.

Timmy Davis Jr. described his dad as passionate about the outdoors and the mines.

"He loved to work underground," the younger Davis said. "He loved that place."

President Barack Obama offered his condolences at an Easter prayer breakfast in Washington on Tuesday and said the federal government is ready to assist with whatever the state needs. He also asked the audience to pray for those still in the mine.

Kevin Stricklin, an administrator for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, said the situation looked grim for the missing miners.

"All we have left is hope, and we're going to continue to do what we can," he said.

Officials hoped the four were able to reach airtight chambers stocked with food, water and enough oxygen for them to live for four days, but rescue teams checked one of two such chambers nearby and it was empty. The buildup of gases prevented teams from reaching other chambers.

A total of 31 miners were in the area during a shift change when the explosion rocked the mine, about 30 miles south of Charleston.

"Before you knew it, it was just like your ears stopped up, you couldn't hear and the next thing you know, it's just like you're just right in the middle of a tornado," miner Steve Smith, who heard the explosion but was able to escape, told ABC's "Good Morning America."

Massey Chief Executive Officer Don Blankenship told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday that a carbon monoxide warning was the first sign of trouble. Mine crews were checking on the alarm when they discovered an explosion had occurred deep inside the mine.

"I don't know that we know what happened," he said.

Some of those killed may have died in the blast and others when they breathed in the gas-filled air, Stricklin said. Eleven bodies had been recovered and identified, but the other 14 have not. Names weren't released.

Manchin said investigators still don't know what ignited the blast, but methane likely played a part.

The death toll is the highest in a U.S. mine since 1984, when 27 died in a fire at Emery Mining Corp.'s mine in Orangeville, Utah. If the four missing bring the total to 29, it would be the most killed in a U.S. coal mine since a 1970 explosion killed 38 at Finley Coal Co., in Hyden, Ky.

"There's always danger. There's so many ways you can get hurt, or your life taken," said Gary Williams, a miner and pastor of New Life Assembly, a church near the southern West Virginia mine.

Though the situation looked bleak, Manchin said miracles can happen and pointed to the 2006 Sago Mine explosion that killed 12. Crews found miner Randal McCloy Jr. alive after he was trapped for more than 40 hours in an atmosphere poisoned with carbon monoxide.

In Monday's blast, nine miners were leaving on a vehicle that takes them in and out of the mine's long shaft when a crew ahead of them felt a blast of air and went back to investigate, Stricklin said.

They found seven workers dead. Others were hurt or missing.

Massey Energy, a publicly traded company based in Richmond, Va., has 2.2 billion tons of coal reserves in southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, southwest Virginia and Tennessee. It ranks among the nation's top five coal producers and is among the industry's most profitable. It has a spotty safety record.

In the past year, federal inspectors fined the company more than $382,000 for repeated serious violations involving its ventilation plan and equipment at Upper Big Branch.

Methane is one of the great dangers of coal mining, and federal records say the Eagle coal seam releases up to 2 million cubic feet of methane gas into the Upper Big Branch mine every 24 hours.

In mines, giant fans are used to keep the colorless, odorless gas concentrations below certain levels. If concentrations are allowed to build up, the gas can explode with a spark roughly similar to the static charge created by walking across a carpet in winter, as at the Sago mine, also in West Virginia.

The Eagle seam produced 1.2 million tons of coal in 2009, according to the mine safety agency, and has about 200 employees.

___

LONDON – An official with Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party says the U.K. leader will confirm Tuesday that Britain's first national election in five years will take place May 6.

Brown will travel to Buckingham Palace to ask Queen Elizabeth II for permission to dissolve Parliament and call the first national vote since 2005.

The official demanded anonymity to discuss the announcement in advance.

The election could end in Brown's ouster three years after he succeeded Tony Blair as leader. The main opposition Conservative Party — which leads in opinion polls — hopes to win power for the first time in 13 years.

Several polls suggest Britain could have a hung Parliament, in which no party has an absolute majority, for the first time since 1974.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

LONDON (AP) — At last, Britain is about to get an election date.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected Tuesday to play his hand, pay a visit to Queen Elizabeth II and name a date for the first national vote since 2005 — almost certainly May 6.

For Brown, appreciated by some but widely unloved, election day could mark the ignominious end of a three-year term beset by division within his party, relentless media sniping and the near-collapse of the British economy.

Defeat would end a British political era begun with Tony Blair's landslide 1997 election victory, which returned the Labour Party to office and brought an unprecedented three successive election triumphs for the center-left party.

Britain's Conservatives — the party of Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill — hope to win a national election for the first time since 1992.

Brown's Labour Party is as much as 10 points behind the Conservatives and their articulate but untested leader, David Cameron, in some opinion polls. But an unusual electoral map means the outcome is still uncertain and some cracks are beginning to show in the Conservatives' modern facade.

An ICM poll published late Sunday by The Guardian newspaper showed Labour closing in on its main rival — climbing four points to 33 percent with the opposition Tories down one point with 37 percent.

"The Conservative Party and its supporters really must understand the scale of the battle they have to fight," former Conservative deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine told BBC radio.

Whoever ends up running the debt-plagued nation will face restive unions and a population that will be asked to contribute more and receive less.

Britain's recession-wracked economy and enormous debt are likely to dominate the election campaign. Both Labour and Conservatives say they will trim spending and slash the country's 167 billion pound ($250 billion) deficit — but they differ on how deep, and how soon, to make cuts.

The Tories say they will reverse Labour's planned hike to national insurance, a payroll tax paid by employees and employers, and implement about 6 billion pounds in spending cuts this year. Labour says major cuts should be deferred until next year to give the economy more time to recover.

In a podcast on the prime minister's Web site Monday, Brown said Conservative plans to cut public spending could tip the economy back into recession.

Brown compared the economy to injured soccer star Wayne Rooney, saying that "after an injury, you need support to recover. ... If you withdraw support too early, you risk doing more damage."

The Conservatives countered with an election poster showing a single green shoot emerging from a bleak landscape — with a boot bearing the words "Job Tax" preparing to stamp on it.

"The choice in this election is very, very clear. You have either got Labour stamping out the recovery, stamping on the green shoots, or the Conservatives avoiding the jobs tax," Conservative Treasury spokesman George Osborne said.

Britain must hold an election by June 3. Brown is expected to announce Tuesday that it will be held May 6 — when elections for town halls are already scheduled to take place, traveling to Buckingham Palace to ask Queen Elizabeth II to dissolve Parliament so campaigning can start.

For all the posturing, the major parties agree on many issues. They would keep British troops in Afghanistan and seek to preserve the so-called "special relationship" with the U.S.

Britain's next government must make sharp cuts to services, complete political reforms following a scandal over lawmakers' inflated and fraudulent expenses claims, and public sector unions — sensing the looming cuts — are in militant mood and threatening strikes.

"Our message to the politicians should be simple — if you're coming for our jobs, our pensions, our services and our education, we are going to stand together and we are going to defend them," Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union — which represents about 300,000 people — said Monday.

Voter anger could benefit small and fringe parties in the election, including the Greens and the racist British National Party — neither of whom currently hold a House of Commons seat.

Politicians are also waiting to see whether a more U.S.-style, personality-centered campaign — including the first-ever televised debates between the leaders of Labour, the Conservatives and the third-placed Liberal Democrats — will help build interest in the campaign.

The Conservatives, who have consistently led in opinion polls for more than two years, hope voter weariness with Brown's Labour — in power since 1997 — will propel them to victory.

And the party itself has changed, at least on the surface. The 43-year-old Cameron has sought to replace his party's fusty, right-wing image with a more modern brand of "compassionate Conservatism," and drawn more women and members of ethnic minorities to a party long dominated by affluent white men like himself.

With his bicycle riding, informal "call me Dave" manner and young family — his wife Samantha is expecting their fourth child in September — Cameron resembles Labour's former savior Tony Blair, who swept his party back to power in 1997. Many Britons sympathized with the Camerons over the death in 2009 of their eldest child, 6-year-old Ivan, who suffered from cerebral palsy and a rare and severe epilepsy condition.

Last week, Labour deployed Blair himself to challenge Cameron's supposed likeness. In his first domestic political speech since leaving office in 2007, Blair accused the opposition party of lacking principles, saying the Conservative election slogan "vote for change" begged the question: "Change to what exactly?"

The party's modern new image suffered a blow Saturday when home affairs spokesman Chris Grayling was recorded saying Christian bed-and-breakfast owners should be allowed to turn away gay couples.

Gay rights groups called for Grayling to be fired and Business Secretary Peter Mandelson said the remarks — secretly recorded at a meeting of a right-of-center think tank last week — showed the Tories had not changed. "When the camera is on they say one thing and when the camera is off they say another," Mandelson said.

Osborne said Grayling would keep his job, and like other senior Tories had voted for legislation banning discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

But the episode adds to Conservative jitters about an election many predict will end without an outright winner.

Because of the quirks of Britain's electoral system, the Conservatives need a large swing to ensure a majority of House of Commons seats. Labour traditionally wins more seats in urban areas, which usually contain fewer voters and have a lower turnout than in rural voter districts — dominated by the Conservatives.

The Conservatives lost the 2005 election despite taking a bigger share of the popular vote than Labour.

Many recent opinion polls suggest the election may result in a hung Parliament, in which no party has an absolute majority, for the first time since 1974. Depending on the result, Brown or Cameron is likely to attempt to form a coalition government, or plan for a second election later this year.

Cameron said Sunday that a hung Parliament would damage British interests and create uncertainty at a time of economic difficulty.

The ICM poll published Sunday questioned 1,001 adults. No margin of error was given, but is typically plus or minus three percent in similar samples.