...

Vatican Statement Found not Satisfactory

Iran Materials 18 September 2006 16:19 (UTC +04:00)

(Zaman) - The Muslim world is not satisfied with Pope Benedict XVI's expression of regret following his offensive remarks about Islam, reports Trend.

The Arab press cited the statement of regret as a correct step, yet not a clear apology. In its evaluation of the statement, Saudi Arabia's Al-Jazeera, which stressed that the Pope should offer a clear and strong apology to the Muslim world, stated: It

is not enough to say the Pope did not mean to insult. The delay of the apology would cause further protests.

The Kuwaiti Al-Siyassa paper noted that only the Pope can close down this dangerous file. The only way to do that is to apologize to Muslims.

Al-Khaleej paper from the United Arab Emirates urged that the Pope needs to apologize immediately if he wants to preserve inter-religious dialog.

The Jordan Times, semi-official newspaper from Jordan, wrote that if the Pope was searching for historical examples, he could have pointed to the blood thirst of the witch-hunts and the Inquisition. The leading Egyptian paper Al-Ahram, in reference to the Pope's citation from a Byzantine emperor in his speech, questioned if the pontiff was seeking revenge for the Byzantine Empire.

Latest

Latest