WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum says President Barack Obama’s apology for the burning of Qurans in Afghanistan was a mistake that demonstrates the president’s “weakness.”

Santorum says that rather than saying he was sorry, Obama should have only acknowledged it was wrong.

The former senator from Pennsylvania says to apologize for something that was not an intentional act “is something the president of the United States should not have done.”

Obama has come under fierce criticism from Republicans for apologizing for the burning of Qurans at a military base in Afghanistan. Military officials say the incident was a mistake. It has sparked days of violent riots in Afghanistan, was a mistake.

Santorum was interviewed Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.”