Muslims link Pope to 'racists and bigots' over Islam speech

The pontiff was accused of falling into "the trap of bigots and racists" with the comments he made on a visit to Germany.

Pakistan's parliament condemned the "derogatory" remarks today and demanded an apology.

The country's foreign ministry said they were "regrettable" and claimed they would encourage violence.

Vatican officials were today scrambling to defend the comments, saying the Pope had never intended to offend Muslims.

During a speech, he quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor who said the prophet Mohammed had brought "things only evil and inhuman" to the world.

Britain's Ramadhan Foundation, a youth organisation, reacted angrily to the comments, comparing the Pope unfavourably to his predecessor John Paul II.

In a statement it said:

"The late Pope John Paul II spent over 25 years to build bridges and links with the Muslim community. He showed the world that its perception of Islam was false and that we are peace-loving people.

"The Ramadhan Foundation is disappointed that the current Pope has not followed the example of his predecessor."

Muhammad Umar, chairman of the foundation, said: "This attack on Islam and Prophet Mohammed by Pope Benedict is recognition that he has fallen into the trap of the bigots and racists when it comes to judging Islam on the actions of a small number of extreme elements. He is wrong in his analysis and I encourage him to study history through the mind of independence, not through pre-conceived prejudices."

The Pope's speech quoted from a book recounting a conversation between 14th century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II and an educated Persian 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'."

Vatican spokesman the Rev Federico Lombardi issued a statement defending the speech after Pope Benedict returned to Rome. "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," he said.

But Turkey's top Islamic cleric Ali Bardakoglu asked Benedict to apologise and made a string of accusations against Christianity, raising tensions ahead of a planned papal visit to the country in November.

He said he was deeply offended by the remarks and called them "extraordinarily worrying, saddening and unfortunate".

Militant Islamic websites also attacked the Pope, and the Muslim Council of Britain called on him to clarify his remarks urgently.

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the MCB, said:

"One would expect a religious leader such as the Pope to act and speak with responsibility and repudiate the Byzantine emperor's views in the interests of truth and harmonious relations between the followers of Islam and Catholicism."

Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, said Muslims must learn to enter into dialogue without "crying foul".

He said: "The Pope is a distinguished scholar and one unlikely to say offensive things. If he quoted something said 600 years ago we should not assume that this represents the Pope's beliefs about Islam today.

"But Muslims as well as Christians must learn to enter into dialogue without crying foul.

"We live in perilous times and we must not only separate religion from violence but also not give religious legitimacy to violence in any shape or form."