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Clerics accept Pope's apology
14/10/2006 07:42 - (SA)
Amman - Thirty-eight Muslim clerics, including a former Iraq representative of the Iranian supreme leader, have signed a letter accepting Pope Benedict XVI's explanation of controversial remarks he recently made about Islam, said a report on Friday.
The clerics from 10 different territories signed the petition, which is to be handed over to the papal nuncio in Jordan on Sunday, the Los Angeles-based Islamica Magazine said in a report to be posted on its website on Saturday.
The letter "accepts the pope's personal expression of sorrow and his assurance that the controversial quotes did not reflect his personal opinion", said the magazine in a news release ahead of publication.
"At the same time, the letter represents an attempt to engage with the papacy on theological grounds in order to tackle wide-ranging misconceptions about Islam in the Western world."
Furore erupted in Muslim world
The magazine said the clerics came from Bosnia, Croatia, Egypt, Jordan, Kosovo, Oman, Russia, Turkey and Uzbekistan, and also included Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Taskhiri, the former Iraq representative of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The magazine's website can be found on http://www.IslamicaMagazine.com.
A furore erupted in the Muslim world when the pope made a speech at the University of Regensburg in Germany on September 12, in which he quoted a medieval Christian emperor who equated Islam with violence.
The pontiff later apologised for the offence he had called without explicitly retracting the comments themselves.
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