VATICAN: Expectations rose yesterday that Pope Benedict would use his weekly audience at the Vatican today to comment further on his controversial lecture at Regensburg university in Germany last week. Calls for him to make an unequivocal apology have continued to grow despite attempts by western religious and political leaders to defuse the crisis.
In Washington President Bush said the Pope was "sincere" on Sunday when he expressed sorrow that his words had been misunderstood. US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice praised the Pope and said everyone needed "to understand that offence can sometimes be taken when perhaps we don't see it".
In a telegram yesterday to the religious congregation of the Italian nun killed in Somalia last Sunday, whose death some believe was a response to his lecture, the Pope said he hoped her sacrifice would help build "real fraternity among people with reciprocal respect of everyone's religious convictions".
The Italian media yesterday quoted reports from Egypt of an al-Qaeda group there calling for the Pope to be punished by sharia law for insulting Islam.
Meanwhile, Italian prime minister Romano Prodi said there was "no reason" for alarm in Italy as media there reported increased security around the Pope.
Workers at Turkey's Directorate General for Religious Affairs petitioned for the arrest of Pope Benedict when he visits the country in November.
In Iraq parliamentary speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani described Benedict's apology as "inadequate and not commensurate with the moral damage caused to Muslims' feelings".
The Grand Mufti of the Palestinian Territories, Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, said Pope Benedict must make "a personal and clear apology to 1.5 billion Muslims in this world for the insult . . ."
He also called for an end to attacks on churches. Seven were vandalised there at the weekend.
At a meeting in Rome, Italian Catholic, Jewish and Muslim leaders called for dialogue among the three faiths to ease tension. Abdallah Redouane, of the city's Islamic cultural centre, said Italy's Muslim community accepted the Pope's apology and considered the episode closed.
Sami Salem, imam of Rome's mosque, said religious leaders had a right to be "proud of their faith but they must be obliged to respect other religions".
Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Vatican's council for culture, said all sides must have an ability for "self-criticism", while in Australia Cardinal George Pell said the violent reaction of Muslims to the lecture "justified one of Pope Benedict's main fears" about Islam. Australian Muslims described his comments as "unhelpful".
Meanwhile, in Libya, Col Gadafy's eldest son, Mohammed Muammar Gadafy, said he would not urge the Pope to apologise, as a non-Muslim was not a religious person and therefore an apology from such a person was of no comfort. "But I call him to learn the truth and to embrace the Islamic religion," he said.