You're forgetting eval {}

#!/usr/bin/perl -- 

use strict;
use warnings;

use XML::Parser;
my $p1 = new XML::Parser(Style => 'Debug');
eval {
$p1->parse('error NOW> <foo id="me">Hello World</foo>');
};

warn "CAUGHTS ANS ERRORS BOSSS: $@\n" if $@;
undef $p1;

__END__
CAUGHTS ANS ERRORS BOSSS:
syntax error at line 1, column 0, byte 0 at ...
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