Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday apologised for causing any offence to Muslims amid growing fury across the Islamic world over a speech he made implicitly linking Islam and violence. "The Holy Father is extremely sorry that certain passages of his speech appeared offensive to Muslim believers and were interpreted in a way that does not correspond in any way to his intentions," said the Vatican's new secretary of state, Tarcisio Bertone. "The pope is unequivocally in favour of dialogue between religions and cultures," Bertone said, in his first official statement since taking office on Friday. Anger with Pope Benedict XVI intensified across the Muslim world on Saturday, uniting Sunni Islam's leading authority, Malaysia's moderate premier and Afghanistan's extremist Taliban militia. The Vatican said the pope's comments on Tuesday linking Islam and violence had been misinterpreted, but Muslim leaders described them as offensive with many demanding an immediate apology. The head of Cairo's Al-Azhar university Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi said on Saturday the pontiff's comments "betray a clear ignorance of Islam and attribute to the faith things which have nothing to do with it".
Sheikh Mohammed, Sunni Islam’s top authority, said the pope’s remarks “do nothing to further dialogue between world religions and civilisations”.