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ShareDUBAI: Gulf newspapers continued to criticise Pope Benedict XVI on Monday, with one Saudi daily saying his remarks linking Islam to violence were beating the drum of war for the far right in the United States.
The Pope's comments, made Tuesday in a university address in his native Germany, were not "an ordinary blunder requiring an apology", the Saudi Arabian Al-Yom wrote in its Monday edition one day after the pontiff said he was "deeply sorry" for the outrage caused.
"These remarks belong in a current of thought that is in total accord with the ideas of the extreme right in the United States on the conflict between civilisations," it said.
"This ideology beats the drum of war even more."
Benedict had sought to mollify Muslim anger on Sunday, saying he was "deeply sorry" for the outrage sparked by his remarks on Islam and stressing that they did not reflect his personal opinion.
But the Qatari daily Ash-Sharq rejected his public statement of regrets and demanded that he issue a full apology.
Under the headline "Regrets... less than an apology", the paper said the pope "must absolutely apologise for his prejudiced remarks, thus soothing the anger of Muslims".
Benedict had come under mounting pressure from Muslims worldwide to retract his remarks in which he quoted an obscure medieval text criticising some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as "evil and inhuman".
"I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address... which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims," the pope said Sunday during the traditional Angelus blessing from the balcony of his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome.
