Egypt's Coptic Church rejects Pope's Islam remarks

CAIRO: Egypt's Coptic Church has rejected Pope Benedict XVI's remarks implicitly linking Islam and violence saying that Christianity taught love and respect for other faiths.          

"The Church categorically rejects the comments of the Vatican Pope," said spokesman Bishop Murqos, whose church's leader Shenuda III also bears the title pope.        

"The Christian religion commands us to love other people whatever their faith," the spokesman said in comments carried by the opposition daily Al-Wafd on Saturday.       

"We must respect the Muslim faithful and their prophet as we respect the  followers of Jesus Christ and it is unacceptable to offend their religious beliefs.        

"We utterly reject any offence to Islamic values or the Prophet."   

During a trip to Germany on Tuesday, Benedict cited a 14th-century Christian emperor who said the Prophet Mohammed had brought the world "evil and inhuman" things "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".       

The pope's spokesman said later that Benedict respected Islam but rejected violence motivated by religion. However the explanation failed to quell Muslim anger.              

Copts make up between six and 10 percent of Egypt's 73 million population and are the largest Christian community in the Middle East.       

They have been the target of periodic attack by Muslim hardliners in recent years, making their leaders concerned to avoid causing any offence.