Papal remarks 'beat the drum of war': Saudi paper

DUBAI: Gulf newspapers continued to criticise Pope Benedict XVI on Monday, with one Saudi daily saying his remarks linking Islam to violence were beating the drum of war for the far right in the United States.           

The Pope's comments, made Tuesday in a university address in his native Germany, were not "an ordinary blunder requiring an apology", the Saudi Arabian Al-Yom wrote in its Monday edition one day after the pontiff said he was "deeply sorry" for the outrage caused.         

"These remarks belong in a current of thought that is in total accord with the ideas of the extreme right in the United States on the conflict between civilisations," it said.             

"This ideology beats the drum of war even more."            

Benedict had sought to mollify Muslim anger on Sunday, saying he was "deeply sorry" for the outrage sparked by his remarks on Islam and stressing that they did not reflect his personal opinion.         

But the Qatari daily Ash-Sharq rejected his public statement of regrets and demanded that he issue a full apology.            

Under the headline "Regrets... less than an apology", the paper said the pope "must absolutely apologise for his prejudiced remarks, thus soothing the anger of Muslims".     

Benedict had come under mounting pressure from Muslims worldwide to retract his remarks in which he quoted an obscure medieval text criticising some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as "evil and inhuman".             

"I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address... which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims," the pope said Sunday during the traditional Angelus blessing from the balcony of his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome.        

He stressed that the passages he quoted in his speech at Regensburg University "do not in any way express my personal thought".              

"I hope that this serves to appease hearts and to clarify the true meaning of my address, which in its totality was and is an invitation to frank and sincere dialogue, with great mutual respect," he added.       

But this was not enough, according to Ash-Sharq in Qatar.          

"To hide behind hollow and imprecise statements such as to declare himself saddened, or not having meant to cause offence... could spark conflict between adepts of the two biggest religions in the world," it said.    

"Muslims are waiting for clear apologies in which Islam and its prophet are absolved from everything contained in the statements" made by the pope, the daily added.   

It said the pontiff's remarks were all the more serious, since they came at a time when the Muslim world is facing "a hostile campaign", notably in "the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq by foreign troops, as well as the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories".     

Benedict's remarks "also come after Muslims were accused of fascism and terrorism, after the crisis over the Danish cartoons (depicting the Prophet Mohammed) and, well before this, (US President) George Bush's threat to lead a crusade against those he called 'extremist Muslims' the morning after the September 11 2001 attacks" on New York and Washington, Ash-Sharq concluded.