Pope Benedict XVI faced growing Muslim anger yesterday over remarks in which he linked Islam with violence, with the Pakistani parliament calling on him to retract the statement.
In India, the head of the minorities commission said the pope sounded like a medieval crusader.
In a university lecture in Regensburg, Germany on Tuesday, the pope implicitly denounced connections between Islam and violence, particularly with regard to jihad, or "holy war."
The pope's official spokesman later issued a response saying that Benedict respected Islam but rejected violence motivated by religion.
Muslim leaders in several countries have strongly criticized the remarks.
Yesterday, the Pakistani parliament unanimously called on the pontiff to retract his remarks, while the foreign office accused him of "ignorance."
"This House demands that the pope should retract his remarks in the interest of harmony between religions," said the resolution passed by the overwhelmingly Muslim country's National Assembly.
"The derogatory remarks of the pope about the philosophy of jihad and Prophet Mohammed have injured sentiments across the Muslim world and pose the danger of spreading acrimony among the religions," the resolution said.
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