Opposition to Pope's comments grows in Muslim world

Criticism of Pope Benedict XVI grew Friday as religious and political leaders from Lebanon, Turkey and Pakistan condemned commentstheRoman Catholic leadermade earlier this week about Islam.

The remarks were "the result of pitiful ignorance," saidSalih Kapusuz, a deputy leader of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party, on Friday.

"He has a dark mentality that comes from the darkness of the Middle Ages. He is a poor thing that has not benefited from the spirit of reform in the Christian world," Kapusuz told the state news agency.

"It looks like an effort to revive the mentality of the Crusades."

During a speech Tuesday at the University of Regensburg, in Bavaria, Germany, the Pope quoted 14th-century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus.

"The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," the Pope said. "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Muhammad 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.' "

The pontiff repeatedly quoted Manuel's argument that spreading the faith through violence is unreasonable, adding: "Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul."

When the Pope returned to Italy on Thursday, a Vatican spokesperson issued a statement saying the comments weren't meant to offend Islam.

"It certainly wasn't the intention of the Pope to carry out a deep examination of jihad [holy war] and on Muslim thought on it, much less to offend the sensibility of Muslim believers," said Rev. Federico Lombardi.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel alsodefended the German-born Pope on Friday, saying his critics misunderstood the comments.

"What Benedict XVI emphasized was a decisive and uncompromising renunciation of all forms of violence in the name of religion," Merkel was quoted as saying in the German newspaper Bild.

Pakistan, Lebanon voice disapproval

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry on Friday summoned theVatican's ambassador to discuss the remarks hours afterthe country's National Assembly passed a resolution condemning his remarks.

"This statement has hurt sentiments of the Muslims," the resolution said. "This is also against the charter of the United Nations. This house demands the Pope retract his remarks in the interest of harmony among different religions of the world."

Lebanon's most senior Shia Muslim cleric on Friday demanded a personal apology and condemned the remarks.

"We do not accept the apology through Vatican channels and ask him [Benedict] to offer a personalapology not through his officials to Muslims for this false reading [of Islam]," said Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah.

On Thursday, Turkey's top Islamic cleric called the Pope's remarks "extraordinarily worrying, saddening and unfortunate."

Religious Affairs Directorate head Ali Bardakoglu called on the Pope to personally apologize ahead of a planned visit to Turkey in late November.

Benedict is to travel to Turkey on Nov. 28 and spend a few days there at the request of the country's secularist President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.

It will be his first visit to a Muslim country since becoming the spiritual leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics in April 2005.

Earlier this year, a series of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad published in a Danish newspaper sparked weeks of violent demonstrations across the Middle East and Asia. Rioters torched European and American embassies and other targets.