Pope Holds Unprecedented Meeting with Muslim Envoys

Pope Benedict has met Muslim envoys at his summer residence near Rome in an unprecedented meeting to defuse the lingering anger over recent remarks he made on Islam.

|PIC1|In his speech to the diplomatic envoys of some 20 Muslim countries as well as the leaders of Italy's own Muslim community, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his "esteem and profound respect" for members of the Islamic faith.

The meeting is now the fourth time the Pope has attempted to smooth over the crisis that erupted following his references in a speech earlier in the month in which he used quotes saying that the Muslim faith was spread by the sword.

The Pope reiterated his calls for greater dialogue between the two religions during the 30-minute meeting, which was broadcast live on Vatican television and radio.

"Christians and Muslims must learn to work together ... in order to guard against all forms of intolerance and to oppose all manifestations of violence," the 79-year-old Pope said at the meeting in a frescoed hall of the papal summer palace, reports Reuters.

After delivering his speech the Pope personally greeted each of the envoys from countries including Indonesia, Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran and Iraq, among others, plus the League of Arab States, and chatted with them briefly.

The Pope said Christians and Muslims had to learn from the past and work for a better future.

"I sincerely pray that the relations of trust which have developed between Christians and Muslims over several years, will not only continue, but will develop further in a spirit of sincere and respectful dialogue ...," he said.

The speech drew a positive response from Iraqi ambassador Albert Edward Ismail Yelda who said he was satisfied with the speech.

"I pray to almighty God the crisis will be behind us," he told reporters. "We need to sit together -- Muslims, Christians, Jews and the rest of the world, the rest of religions, in order to find common ground for peaceful coexistence."

His speech to Muslim envoys was delivered in French but was also made available by the Vatican in Arabic.

In it, the Pope made repeated references to the need for dialogue between faiths.

"I am profoundly convinced that in the current world situation it is imperative that Christians and Muslims engage with one another in order to address the numerous challenges that present themselves to humanity ...," he said.