German Chancellor defends Pope
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has defended remarks on Islam and jihad made by the Pope during his trip to Germany, saying his message has been “misunderstood”.
“Whomever criticises the Pope has misunderstood the message of his speech,” Ms Merkel said.
“It is an invitation to dialogue between religions and the Pope has explicitly urged this dialogue, which I also endorse and see as urgently necessary,” she added.
“What Benedict XVI makes clear is a decisive and uncompromising rejection of any use of violence in the name of religion.”
By citing an obscure Medieval text that characterises Mohammed’s teachings as “evil and inhuman,” Pope Benedict has inflamed passions across the Islamic world.
The leader of the Roman Catholic church quoted from a book recounting a conversation between 14th century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II and an educated Persian, on the truths of Christianity and Islam.
“The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war,” the Pope said.
“He said, I quote, ’Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached,”’ Benedict quoted the emperor as saying.
Lebanon’s most senior Shiite Muslim cleric denounced Pope Benedict’s remarks as Egypt warned that the Pope’s comments could incite violence between Muslims and Christians.
“We do not accept the apology through Vatican channels ... and ask him (Benedict) to offer a personal apology – not through his officials – to Muslims for this false reading (of Islam),” Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah told worshippers in his Friday prayers sermon.
Fadlallah’s words were some of the strongest yet in response to the Pontiff’s remarks on Islam’s prophet Mohammed and holy war, during a speech this week in Germany, which angered many in the Muslim world.
“We call on the Pope to carry out a scientific and fastidious reading of Islam. We do not want him to succumb to the propaganda of the enemy led by Judaism and imperialism against Islam,” Fadlallah said.
Other Islamic leaders have demanded an apology from the Pope, and one Kuwaiti lawmaker called on his government to restrict new churches from opening.
On Thursday, the Vatican said the Pope had not intended to offend Muslim sensibilities with the remarks.
But the comments continued to reverberate.
