ATLANTA - Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston, said Wednesday that he is worried and saddened that the controversy over the Vatican’s rebuke of a US nuns’ group may have fostered a perception the church is inhospitable to women.

O’Malley spoke for the first time about the situation in an interview at a gathering of bishops, as supporters of beleaguered nuns protested outside. Earlier this week, Vatican officials met with leaders of the nuns’ group, but they did not resolve their differences.