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Pope asks Muslims to join him for talks

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 23, 2006

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI has invited Muslim envoys to meet with him at his summer residence Monday for what the Holy See says is urgently needed dialogue after the controversy sparked by his remarks on Islam and violence.

Turkey and Iran said their representatives would attend.

Benedict's attempt to talk through the controversy comes as Christian-Muslim tensions rose in Indonesia over the executions early Friday of three Roman Catholic militants. Benedict had appealed to the mostly Muslim nation to spare the men.

Christians angered by the executions went on a rampage, torching government buildings and looting Muslim-owned shops. The three men were convicted of leading a Christian militia that launched attacks in 2000 that left at least 70 people dead.

In Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and in Sudan on Friday, thousands of Muslim worshipers marched against Benedict. The Palestinian protesters waved Hamas banners and called the pope a coward and an "agent of the Americans."

The Vatican announced the pope's invitations Friday, saying they were extended to ambassadors to the Holy See from largely Muslim countries for a meeting at the papal palace at Castel Gandolfo.

Leaders of the Muslim community in Italy also were invited. Turkey said its ambassador would attend, and Iran said its charge d'affaires would participate.

Benedict's disputed remarks came during a Sept. 12 speech at the University of Regensburg in Germany.

During the speech, which explored the relationship between faith and reason, Benedict cited a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the prophet Mohammed as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith."

[Last modified September 23, 2006, 01:21:52]