VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI respects Islam but rejects violence motivated by religion, his spokesman said Thursday after the pontiff faced sharp criticism for linking Islam with violence.
Benedict seeks to "cultivate an attitude of respect and dialogue toward other religions and cultures and obviously also toward Islam," said Father Federico Lombardi in an official statement.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church provoked the outcry with comments on Tuesday in a theological lecture to staff and students at the University of Regensburg, in the most political part of a largely personal visit to his native Bavaria in southern Germany.
Couching his criticism in a historical reference to a 14th century Byzantine emperor, he implicitly denounced connections between Islam and violence, particularly with regard to jihad, or "holy war".
09/14/2006 18:07 GMT