CHICAGO -- He's made controversial comments about the U.S. government as well as Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright -- Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor -- has come under fire once again, NBC5's Rob Stafford reported.

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Wright's latest controversy comes from a eulogy he wrote for Asa Hilliard. The article appeared in a November/December 2007 edition of Trumpet, a magazine run by Wright's daughters. He was quoted as calling Italians "garlic noses" and saying Jesus' crucifixion was "a public lynching Italian-style."

The comments were written before Obama publicly denounced other controversial statements by Wright.

On behalf of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, Domnic DiFrisco spoke about Wright's statements. He said he was "saddened by the words of a purported Christian minister."

Chicago's Italian American Human Relations Foundation called the comments an example of hatred, but member Louis Raygo said he does not hold Obama responsible.

"Do I blame him for the words of somebody else? No. And this doesn't come as an endorsement of Mr. Obama or a non-endorsement. I just don't like guilt by association," Raygo said.

In a Thursday interview with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, Obama called new stories about Wright a distraction.

"Part of what I hope to do in this campaign and as president is to get us beyond these divisions that distract us from our common challenges and our common opportunities and move the country forward," Obama said.

But on Wednesday, Obama, speaking to a crowd of supporters, appeared to defend Wright.

"This was somebody who was preaching three sermons a week for 30 years and so it got boiled down -- they found five or six of his most offense statements," Obama said.

DiFrisco, who supports Obama, said that if the senator doesn't do more to separate himself from Wright, he'll lose votes from Italian Americans.

"Barack Obama is being closely linked to a man who spews hatred. And it is so unlike his character that we need to know why he didn't change pews earlier," DiFrisco said.