Pope praises bishops for Muslim dialogue

VATICAN CITY, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict XVI urged bishops visiting the Vatican from Chad Saturday to promote dialogue between Muslims and Christians.

"I rejoice in knowing that relations between Christians and Muslims in your country are generally good, thanks notably to searching for better mutual understanding," he said. "I encourage you to keep up the cooperation in a spirit of sincere dialogue and mutual respect."

The pontiff's remarks came two days before he was scheduled to meet with representatives of Muslim countries at his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, to defuse anger over his recent remarks about Islam, Voice of America reports.

In an address at the University of Regensburg in Germany Sept. 12, Benedict quoted a Byzantine emperor as characterizing some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith."

Protestors in Jordan, Afghanistan, Malaysia and other Muslim countries continued to demand a fuller apology from the pope for the remarks.