Pope accuses Muslim extremists of inciting anti-Christian feelings

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Pope accuses Muslim extremists of inciting anti-Christian feelings

 

Last updated at 19:32pm on 5th October 2006

 

 

An official Vatican journal has accused Muslim fundamentalist of using Pope Benedict's controversial remarks on Islam to incite anti-Christian feeling.

The article in Civilta Cattolica, the journal of the Italian Jesuits, was one of a recent series of comments by Catholic Church officials or publications defending the Pope against accusations his speech last month was anti-Muslim.

It said the Sept 12 lecture at Regensburg University in the Pope's native Germany had been used "by fundamentalist groups to incite Islamic people against the Pope and against Christians."

It said Muslim fundamentalists had "linked (the Pope's words) to the presumed western war against Islam" and had gravely harmed Christian-Muslim relations.

The leader of more than one billion Catholics has several times expressed regret for the reaction to the lecture in which he quoted 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who spoke of the Prophet Mohammad's "command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".

But he has stopped short of the unequivocal apology wanted by Muslims for the speech. The dispute has further strained Vatican ties with Muslims who already knew he has spoken in the past against Turkey's entry into the European Union because of that country's Islamic roots.

Some accuse him of undoing years of bridge-building by his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

The journal said there was "no doubt" that both Christians and Muslims could suffer from the worsened relations, particularly in places where either group is a minority.

It warned that the "ultimate aim of various fundamental, radical and terrorist groups" was a clash of civilisations.

Articles in Civilta Cattolica are approved in advance by the Vatican's Secretariat of State, the most influential department in the Holy See. Asked about the article, Iraq's ambassador to the Vatican, Albert Edward Ismail Yelda, said that while he personally accepted the Pope's clarification he expected Islamic fundamentalists to continue their objections.

"His explanation has not been digested well and since fundamentalism and fanaticism are spreading like fire, I think fundamentalists will use the issue to support their view that this is just a continuation of the Crusades," said the ambassador, who is a Christian.

Church sources said the Vatican's annual message to the Islamic world to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan due for late October, was being rewritten to address the tensions that arose after the Pope's lecture.

The Vatican has said the Pope's trip to predominantly Muslim Turkey at the end of November, which some Turks want to be called off, would go ahead as planned.