Pope Benedict XVI, in a rare rebuke of a sovereign nation, criticized Belgium for a raid on church property by police investigating alleged sex abuse by clerics.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that the pontiff stressed the Catholic Church's "autonomy" to conduct its own investigations while characterizing last week's raid by Belgian police searching for documents as "surprising and deplorable."

According to the reports, the police allegedly confiscated files, detained bishops and drilled into the tombs of at least one cardinal in a Brussels cathedral.

Benedict said in a statement, "On several occasions I have personally reiterated that such serious issues should be attended to by both civil and canon law, with respect for their reciprocal specificity and autonomy."

The Times further noted that the raid by Belgian police came months after the Belgian church created a committee to investigate claims of sex abuse similar to those lodged in other European countries.

It was also reported that the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, compared the detention of bishops and other tactics employed by the Belgian police in their raids to those of Communist regimes.

He hoped "justice will run its course," guaranteeing "the fundamental rights of people and institutions" and "the respect for victims," Benedict said in his Sunday message. (With Inputs from Agencies)