Pope: I Was Misunderstood About Islam, May My Words Become an Opportunity for Dialogue

Pope Benedict seems not only to NOT be apologizing for his recent remarks at Regensburg, but rather appears to be reasserting his thesis:

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – The quotation made by Benedict XVI in the “lecture” at the University of Regensburg, “lent itself to possible misunderstanding”. “For the careful reader, however, it emerges clearly that I did not want to make my own in any way the negative words pronounced by the medieval emperor.” That speech tackled the theme of “faith and reason”, maintaining that “not religion and violence but religion and reason go together” and aimed to “invite the Christian faith to dialogue with the modern world and all religions”, as should have emerged “clearly”, considering the overall trip to Germany. A crowd of 40,000 people present at today’s general audience greeted with long and warm applause the pope’s words about his trip to Germany, and especially about the speech he gave in Regensburg.

It was a profound reflection, as he did last Sunday before the Angelus prayer, Benedict XVI reiterated the substance of what he had already said: everything took place in an athenaeum, and hence in language that would be employed for a university lecture. In the text of the address, there is a note that the pope intended to add footnotes. Further, the controversial phrase was a quote referring to Muhammad “in a way that is incomprehensible and brusque for us” and which served to “introduce the drama and actuality of the topic.” The pope said that “in no way did I wish to make my own the negative words of the emperor”, that he has “profound respect for world religions and for Muslims, who worship the one God and with whom we promote peace, liberty, social justice.”

Benedict XVI also expressed the hope that “after the initial reaction”, his words may “constitute a push towards positive, even self-critical, dialogue between religions and between modern reason and Christian faith.”

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My Comments:
One commenter at FreeRepublic summed up the Pope's statement this way:

"READ BEFORE YOU RIOT!"