A Catholic archbishop in Brazil says the Holocaust did not just victimise Jews.

Archbishop Dadeus Grings, from Porto Alegre in southern Brazil, did not dispute the number of Jews killed, but said Catholics and gypsies were perscuted more.

"The Jews talk about six million people killed. But how many Catholics were victims of the Holocaust? They were 22 million in all," Archbishop Dadeus Grings, of Porto Alegre in southern Brazil, was quoted as saying in the Press & Advertising publication.

"Jews say they were the main victims of the Holocaust, the biggest victims were the gypsies, because they were exterminated," he said.

Friday's remarks were not the first controversial words utted by the archbishop, who has held his post since May 2000.

Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks he defended claims by some that the attacks were caused by U.S. foreign policy.

"For Christian morality, any previous evil act does not justify or even lessen the moral gravity of a terrorist act. A truly Catholic morality could not justify or even reduce the moral responsibility of the horrible acts that occurred on September 11," Archbishop Grings said on September 27 2001.

"In fact, the United States, because it is a hegemonic power in the world, has become the target of several nations and groups who want to limit this power; nevertheless, not even this desire justifies the intrinsically evil act committed against them," the archbishop, who is a member of the Doctrine of Faith Commission of the Brazilian Episcopate, added.

The Jewish federation of the state of Rio Grande do Sul was quick to respond to Grings latest remarks. "To diminish the Holocaust is an attack against the millions of people killed in a war unleashed by fanaticism and intolerance," the group said in a statement.