Pope seeks dialogue with Muslims

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI has invited Muslim envoys to meet with him at his summer residence Monday for what the Holy See says is urgently needed dialogue following the crisis ignited by his remarks on Islam and violence.

Turkey and Iran immediately said their representatives would attend.

Benedict's attempt to talk through the controversy comes as Christian-Muslim tensions rose in Indonesia over the executions of three Roman Catholic militants. Benedict had appealed to the mostly Muslim nation to spare the men.

Thousands of Muslim worshippers staged marches against Benedict in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and the Sudanese capital on Friday. The Palestinian protesters waved green Hamas banners and denounced the pontiff as a "coward" and an "agent of the Americans." But much of the Middle East was quiet.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian police guarding a Roman Catholic church exchanged fire for 20 minutes with would-be assailants and chased them away, residents said. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage to the shrine.

The Vatican announced the pope's invitations Friday, saying they were extended to ambassadors to the Holy See from largely Muslim countries for a meeting at the papal palace at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome.

Leaders of the Muslim community in Italy, who have advised the Italian government on politically delicate issues of Muslim integration in the largely Catholic country, also were invited.

Benedict's chief aide on interreligious dialogue, French Cardinal Paul Poupard, also will participate.

Because of the Muslim holy day Friday, many diplomatic officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Turkey said its ambassador would attend, and Iran said its charge d'affaires would participate.

The invitation "will help clear the field of misunderstandings," Indonesia's ambassador, Bambang Prayitno, told the Apcom news agency.

Vatican Radio described the meeting as an "appointment totally dedicated to the urgency for dialogue today, between the cultures and religions of all the world, as Benedict XVI has repeatedly reiterated."

The brief Vatican announcement made no mention of the uproar over Benedict's remarks during a Sept. 12 speech to professors at the University of Regensburg in Germany, where he used to teach theology.