Police Patrol London Churches and Mosques Following Pope's Comments

Police officers are patrolling churches and mosques in London to provide reassurance in the wake of Pope Benedict's comments about Islam.

Catholic and Anglican churches, as well as Muslim mosques were visited by local police units this weekend.

On Sunday, Pope Benedict said he was "deeply sorry" that Muslims took offence at his words and stressed that his use of a medieval quotation to criticise violence as a means to spread the Muslim faith did not reflect his own opinions.

Dr Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of 77 million worldwide, welcomed Pope Benedict XVI's apology for the offence his comments had caused, but added that his comments should be taken in context.

"The Pope has already issued an apology and I think his views on this need to be judged against his entire record, where he has spoken very positively about dialogue," Williams said in an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday.

Religious leaders recently called for renewed interreligious dialogue Tuesday as anger continues to simmer in parts of the worldwide Muslim community.

The Catholic, Jewish and Muslim leaders meeting in Rome called for dialogue among the three main religions in the wake of an outburst of Muslim anger at the Pope's speech in Germany last week.

Police are also currently investigating a Muslim protest at Westminster Cathedral over reported comments by one activist.

Dr Williesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark said officers had dropped in to some of its churches on Sunday.

He added: "My understanding is this was done on the police's own initiative, their own risk assessment."

There were no arrests at the protest outside the Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral on Sunday, attended by about 100 people.
But there have been around 25 complaints against the event - thought to be related to reported comments made by one activist.

Assistant Commissioner Tariq Ghaffur said they would investigate the protest and "other publicly made statements" to find out if any crime had been committed.

"We will always proportionately police all protests but equally will take decisive action where crime is committed."