NEW DELHI: The Catholic Church in India stood by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, apex body of the Church in the country, said it was never the pontiff’s intention to hurt Muslim sentiments and his remarks were “selectively interpreted by a section of the media”, triggering the protests. As a result, “the entire perspective” of his remarks was lost, CBCI spokesman Father Babu Joseph said.

“We stand by what the pontiff said, that violence is not compatible with god or religion. We do not certainly endorse violence that may come through any ideology or religion.”

Emphasising the need to critique religion, he said there was no violent reaction to Dan Brown’s controversial book, The Da Vinci Code, or the film based on it, though both depicted Jesus in a “most obnoxious way”. But the Danish cartoons of the prophet sparked violent protests in many countries.

CBCI president Cardinal Telesphore Toppo said the pope only quoted a Byzantine emperor and a Persian scholar. “It is an eight-page speech and what has sparked all this is just one quotation.”