Pope at mosque, calls for Christian-Muslim harmony

By Philip Pullella and Tom Heneghan

AMMAN (Reuters) - Pope Benedict visited a mosque on Saturday in another attempt to mend fences with Islam after a 2006 speech caused offence, and urged Christians and Muslims to jointly defend religion from political manipulation.

Speaking at the modern King Hussein bin Talal Mosque in Amman, he struck a note of harmony and shared purpose between the world's two largest religions, continuing a main theme of his trip to the Middle East.

"I firmly believe Christians and Muslims can embrace (the task of cooperation) particularly through our respective contributions to learning and scholarship, and public service," he told Islamic leaders and diplomats at the mosque.

Addressing the pope, Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, reminded the pope of the "hurt" Muslims around the world felt in 2006 after Benedict quoted a Byzantine emperor who said Islam was irrational and violent.

Ghazi, a cousin of Jordanian King Abdullah, told the gathering the Muslim world "appreciated" the Vatican's clarification and accepted that the pope was not expressing his own opinion at the time but making an historical citation.

Ghazi, a leading figure in the "Common Word" group of Muslim scholars promoting dialogue with Christians, praised the pope for his "friendly gestures and kindly actions towards Muslims" since the 2006 speech prompted outrage.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the pope did not remove his shoes or pray while in the mosque, as he did during his first visit to a mosque in Turkey in 2006, but rather paused for "a respectful moment of reflection".

Lombardi said the pope did not remove his shoes as he was being shown around the mosque as his hosts did not ask him to.