LONDON (Reuters) - Roman Catholic bishops in England and Wales rejected as false and misleading a BBC documentary about what it said was a cover-up of child sexual abuse under a system enforced by Pope Benedict XVI in his previous job.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, head of the Catholic Church in the two countries, plans to write to Mark Thompson, director general of the BBC this week to protest about the program, aired late on Sunday.

The documentary by flagship current affairs program "Panorama" examined what it described as a secret document written in 1962 that sets out a procedure for dealing with child sex abuse within the Catholic Church.

The document, called "Crimen Sollicitationis," imposes an oath of secrecy on the child victim, the priest dealing with the allegation and any witness. Breaking that oath would result in excommunication, the BBC said.

"The procedure was intended to protect a priest's reputation until the Church had investigated, but in practice it can offer a blueprint for cover-up," the documentary said.

"The man in charge of enforcing it for 20 years was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the man made Pope last year," reporter Colm O'Gorman said in the program "Sex Crimes and the Vatican."

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