Four years after making remarks about Islam in a speech, Pope Benedict XVI says he regrets the controversy that it caused, although he still would not retract them, an Italian newspaper reported Friday.
The daily Il Foglio cited German journalist and writer Peter Seewald in describing how the pope now looks back on his Sept. 12, 2006, speech in Regensburg, Germany, which caused an uproar in the Muslim world.
Seewald is to unveil a book about the pope and the church on Nov. 24 titled "Licht der Welt. Der Papst, die Kirche und die Zeichen der Zeit" ("Light of the world. The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times").
In the Regensburg speech, the pope had cited from a 14th-century text by a Byzantine emperor linking violence and Islam.
Now, Benedict said he would not retract his speech, which he had meant to be "primarily scholarly" in its aim to discuss views on Islam, but acknowledges he underestimated the impact his words would have.
Seewald, the Il Foglio report said, cites the pope as saying that at the time he was not clearly aware that, in the end, any speech by a pope is going to be regarded as political.
Seewald's book is based on conversations he said he conducted with Benedict, with the pontiff speaking openly about such topics as pedophilia, divorce, married priests, birth control, church reforms and Islam.
source : http://www.abna.ir/
