Rare papal words fail to soothe

BERLIN -- Pope Benedict XVI yesterday said he was ``deeply sorry" that his use of a quotation from a medieval text critical of the prophet Mohammed has stirred outrage across the Islamic world, insisting the words did not represent his personal opinion.

Benedict, in his first public remarks since igniting the furor in a lecture at Germany's University of Regensburg on Tuesday, was plainly hoping to soothe Muslims infuriated by his use of a 14th-century quotation that labeled some tenets of the Islamic faith as ``evil and inhuman."

But Benedict seemed to stop short of issuing the unqualified personal apology demanded by Muslim religious leaders and politicians in recent days, and many Islamic leaders indicated dissatisfaction with the papal response to their anger.

``The pope should fall on his knees before a senior Muslim cleric and try to understand Islam," said Ahmad Khatami, an influential cleric in the Iranian holy city of Qom, according to television and wire service reports.

Without a true apology, Khatami warned, ``Muslim outcries will continue until he fully regrets his remarks."

Sporadic violence and protests against the pope continued in Islamic lands, with a Catholic nun shot dead in Somalia, churches set ablaze in the Palestinian West Bank, and hard-line Muslim clerics denouncing Benedict as an enemy of Islam.

Benedict is facing his worst crisis, by far, since ascending to the papacy in April 2005.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia weighed in on the controversy, urging religious leaders to show ``responsibility and restraint." Speaking in Moscow, Putin expressed hope that ``the leaders of the main world faiths will have sufficient strength and wisdom to avoid extremes."

Pope Benedict expressed his regrets while giving the traditional Sunday Angelus blessing to pilgrims at Castel Gandolfo, his summer palace outside Rome. Extra security precautions were in effect both at the Gandolfo retreat and the Vatican, the papal enclave in Rome that has the status of an independent state.

``I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages in my address at the University of Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims," Benedict said in remarks that were broadcast live across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

The offending quote, he said, came from ``a medieval text that in no way expressed my personal opinion."

Papal apologies of any sort are extremely rare. But Benedict offered no explanation why he chose to quote the passage from an obscure text in which the 14th-century Byzantine emperor Manuel Paleologos II denounces Islam's founder and foremost holy figure.

``Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new," states the passage read last week by Benedict, ``and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

At the time, Benedict seemed to be commenting on Islamic ideas of ``jihad," or holy war. The Vatican later said the pope had simply been trying to state that religion should never be used to justify violence.

Muslim response to the pope's expression of regret were lukewarm at best.

``This is a good step toward an apology, but it is not a clear apology," said Mohammed Habib, a leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, an influential Islamist organization that is the country's main opposition force.

Many Muslim clerics and leaders accused the pope of reviving the spirit of the Crusades, the series of medieval wars against Islamic rulers waged by European kings -- with papal blessings -- seeking to conquer the Holy Land.

Since his election as pope after the death of John Paul II, Benedict has pressed for more dialogue between Christians and Muslims, with special emphasis on urging Islamic leaders to address violent movements within their faith.

Two more churches were set ablaze yesterday in the Palestinian West Bank by Muslims protesting the pope's comments about Islam.

In Qom, Muslim theological schools were officially closed so that students could protest against the pope.

In the Somali capital, Mogadishu, Muslim gunmen killed an Italian nun at a children's hospital, although it was not immediately clear whether the killing was linked to the furor over the pope's remarks. Sister Leonella Sgorbati, a nun from the Missionaries of Consolation, died on a surgical table after being shot in the chest, stomach, and back. Her bodyguard was also killed.

A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, told Italy's ANSA news agency that he hoped the killing of the nun might be an isolated event.

``But we are worried about the consequences of this wave of hatred," he said. ``We hope it doesn't have grave consequences for churches around the world."