Politician joins outcry across Muslim world over pontiff's comments in Islam
Reuters
Muslim protestors demonstrate against Pope Benedict XVI in the Indian Kashmiri city of Srinagar on Friday.
Updated: 1 hour, 18 minutes ago
ANKARA, Turkey - TurkeyÂ’s ruling Islamic-rooted party joined a wave of criticism of Pope Benedict XVI on Friday, accusing him of trying to revive the spirit of the Crusades with remarks he made about the Muslim faith.
Muslim leaders elsewhere in the world also expressed dismay, with PakistanÂ’s Foreign Ministry summoning the VaticanÂ’s ambassador to express regret over the remarks, and Parliament passing a resolution condemning the comments.
The pope’s words were “deeply disturbing for Muslims all over the world, and had caused great hurt and anguish,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Vatican’s envoy “regretted the hurt caused to Muslims and said that the media had totally misconstrued certain historical quotes that the Pope used in his lecture,” the statement said.
Benedict quoted from a book recounting a conversation between 14th century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II and a Persian scholar on the truths of Christianity and Islam.
“The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war,” the pope said. “He said, I quote, ’Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”’
Benedict did not explicitly agree with the statement nor repudiate it.
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