Muslims around the world continue to be in uproar

THE TIMES: THE Pope’s visit to Turkey, which many hoped would herald a new era of improved relations between Islam and the West, was in doubt yesterday amid condemnation of remarks by the pontiff that appeared to link Islam and violence.

As Muslims all over the world protested, with effigies of Benedict XVI burnt during demonstrations in Pakistan, members of the Turkish Government urged the Pope to reconsider his visit in November. Senior officials in Turkey said that they could not guarantee his safety if he went ahead with the trip. Muslims vent fury at Pope's speech from Richard Owen and Suna Erdem in Istanbul

THE TIMES: Experts say the Pope was addressing Western culture and did not intend to offend Muslims

IT BEGAN as the joyous homecoming of one of Bavaria’s best-loved sons, with excited crowds lining streets to applaud the German priest who became the leader of 1.1 billion Roman Catholics worldwide.

The organisers who had included a visit to the town of Regensburg on the banks of the River Danube thought that it would be a gentle diversion for Pope Benedict XVI, who agreed to address scholars at the local university before continuing on his tour of the German hinterland.

But the homily given by the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger on Tuesday has provoked a firestorm of Islamic rage and left in doubt his eagerly anticipated trip to Turkey later this year, which was intended to improve relations between Christians and Muslims.

Yesterday effigies of the Pope were set alight in Pakistan and hundreds joined protests in countries from Indonesia to Lebanon. Homily on faith, logic and holy war was seen as a slur on Islam by Richard Owen

THE TIMES: The Pope’s speech was entitled Faith, reason and the university. This is an edited extract:

"I was reminded of all this recently, when I read the edition by Professor Theodore Khoury (Münster) of part of the dialogue carried on, perhaps in 1391, by the erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, and the truth of both. The University of Regensburg address

THE TIMES LEADER: Rationalists should be roused but Muslims reassured by the pontiff’s words

It seems almost medieval when even a discussion today of Middle Ages theology can provoke a global storm of protest and denunciation. The Pope, however, can hardly have expected that his scholarly lecture on faith and reason to the University of Regensburg would have led to the uproar that has broken out in sections of the Muslim world, to demands for an apology and to comparisons with Hitler and Mussolini. Yet a close reading of the speech shows that if any group was openly criticised or “insulted”, it was Western materialists. The Pope and the Prophet

BBC: Criticism is continuing to pour in from religious and political leaders in the Muslim world following remarks by Pope Benedict XVI about Islam.

Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, spoke of sinister tendencies to link terror with Islam which gave rise to an ominous alienation with the West.

Pope Benedict, who is back in Italy, is said to be upset at the way in which his remarks have been interpreted. Fresh criticism of Pope's remarks

BBC VIDEO: Muslim anger at Pope's speech

Mark Alexander