The U.S. Catholic Bishops' Committee for International Justice and Peace chairman says intelligence gathering techniques of the Central Intelligence Agency shown in a recent report have tarnished the United States.

Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, New Mexico was speaking on behaviour detailed in the 500-page report commissioned by the U.S. Senate on the intelligence-gathering techniques and policies of the CIA.

He said it constitutes a violation of basic moral principles and a betrayal of the American commitment to being a moral nation.

In a December 13 interview with Vatican Radio, Bishop Cantu said, "We have placed ourselves through our history as a beacon of hope, a beacon of reason, of freedom: and so, this recent chapter in our history has tarnished that."

He noted, "It is not something that can be easily regained, but I think that the publishing of this report begins the cleaning up of that tarnishing of our reputation as a nation that is on sound moral footing."

The statement of Bishop Cantu to Vatican Radio follows the USCCB's statement in support of the release of the report earlier in the week.

It reiterated the Church's condemnation of torture as intrinsically evil.

"The Catholic Church firmly believes that torture is an 'intrinsic evil' that cannot be justified under any circumstance." Bishop Cantu said.

"The acts of torture described in the Senate Intelligence Committee's report violated the God-given human dignity inherent in all people and were unequivocally wrong."

The statement said, "Congress and the president should act to strengthen the legal prohibitions against torture and to ensure that this never happens again."

CIA Director John Brennan in an unprecedented televised news conference at CIA headquarters on December 11 acknowledged that agency officers did "abhorrent" things to detainees.

He, however, defended the overall post-9/11 interrogation program for stopping attacks and saving lives, The Associated Press reported.