Archbishop of Canterbury defends Pope as Muslim calls for his execution

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has defended the Pope
13 April 2012

The head of the world's Anglican church stepped in to defend Pope Benedict today in the face of fury from some Islamic groups about the Roman Catholic leader's use of a medieval quotation on Islam and violence.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who is the spiritual leader of 77 million Anglicans worldwide, said Pope Benedict had been right to apologise for the offence caused and said his comments should be taken in context.

Williams comments come after a notorious Muslim extremist told a demonstration in London yesterday that the Pope should face execution.

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"The Pope has already issued an apology and I think his views on this need to be judged against his entire record, where he has spoken very positively about dialogue," Williams said.

Pope Benedict, the head of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, sparked worldwide Muslim anger last week with comments which were seen as portraying Islam as a religion tainted by violence.

On Sunday the German-born Pope, elected in April last year, said he was "deeply sorry" about the reaction to his comments, which he said were "a quotation from a medieval text, which do not in any way express my personal thought".

Williams told the BBC that all faiths could be distorted, and the Pope was simply giving an example of that.

"There are elements in Islam that can be used to justify violence, just as there are in Christianity and Judaism," Williams said.

"These religious faiths, because they are held by human beings who are very fallible, can be distorted in these ways and we all need to recognise that."

The Archbishop also said he understood Muslim sensitivity to comments which appear to misunderstand the nature of Islam.

"There is a sense that Islam in Western eyes generally is written off, is regarded as wholly unreasonable and violent," he said. "There is a sense of frustration among the most moderate and educated Muslims that they don't really get a fair hearing. It goes quite deep."

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