Pope 'deeply sorry' for hurt

Italian police were ordered this week to tighten security at potential Catholic targets across the country as the leaders of the Roman Catholic church anxiously waited to see if a personal expression of regret by Pope Benedict would assuage Muslim fury over his remarks on Islam.
The Pope's speech in Germany last week, in which he quoted a medieval ruler who said the Prophet Muhammad's innovations were "evil and inhuman", has led to widespread condemnation in the Muslim world. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused the Pope of committing the world's biggest Christian church to what he claimed was a "crusade" launched by President George Bush against Islam.

The response by Iran's supreme leader represented a setback to more than 25 years of Vatican diplomacy aimed at distancing Roman Catholicism from the West, which many Muslims regard as hostile and decadent. The ayatollah said the Pope's remarks formed "the latest link in the chain of a crusade against Islam started by America's Bush/

My CoMmEnTs...
I peronally think that the Pope was out of order and shouldnt have said such things abit Islam in a negative way. He obtains authority and power and should know better not to pass comments as such as he has a religious status himself.