Religious Leaders Urge Dialogue After Pope's Comments

More than a week after Pope Benedict's comments about Islam, religious leaders 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 great religions in the wake of an outburst of Muslim anger at the Pope's speech in Germany last week.

The meeting of religious leaders was held at Rome's city council and was organised by the mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni.

Among those attending the meeting were Cardinal Paul Poupard of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue; Rome's chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni; and the imam of a Rome mosque, Sami Salem.

Cardinal Poupard said it's important that the meeting was held at the town hall because "it is the home of everyone, and it shows that everyone is committed." He said dialogue is the alternative to terrorism and violence.

One of the Muslim representatives at the meeting, the secretary general of the Islamic Culture Centre of Italy, Abdellah Redouane, sought to downplay the crisis over the Pope's remarks. He said Italy's Muslim community has accepted the Pope's apology and considered the matter closed. Redouane said there are no alternatives, "either we clash or we have a dialogue, and we have opted for dialogue."

Anger across the Muslim world erupted last week after Pope Benedict, in a speech to academics in Germany ,quoted the words of a Byzantine emperor who characterised some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhumane."

On Sunday, Pope Benedict said he was "deeply sorry" that Muslims took offence at his words and stressed that the emperor's words did not reflect his own opinion.

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.

Dr Williams said that all faiths could be distorted, and the Pope was simply giving an example of that.

"There are elements in Islam that can be used to justify violence, just as there are in Christianity and Judaism," Williams said.

"These religious faiths, because they are held by human beings who are very fallible, can be distorted in these ways and we all need to recognise that."