The Pope expressed his “esteem and profound respect” for members of the Islamic faith in a speech to diplomatic envoys from some 20 Muslim countries plus the leaders of Italy’s own Muslim community at his summer residence south of Rome.

He did not specifically mention the quote that angered Muslims, saying the circumstances that made the meeting necessary “are well known”. But he called for greater dialogue between the two religions.

“Christians and Muslims must learn to work together ... in order to guard against all forms of intolerance and to oppose all manifestations of violence,” the 79-year-old Pope said at the meeting in a frescoed hall of the papal summer palace. It was the fourth time he has tried to make amends to Muslims, without actually apologising directly, for a speech at a university in his native Germany on September12.

The Pope is facing the toughest international crisis since his election in April, 2005, and the severity of some reactions has raised doubts about a planned trip to Turkey in November. Mario Scialoja, an adviser to the Italian section of the World Muslim League who attended the audience, told Reuters afterwards he thought it was a “very good and warm speech”.

“He recalled the differences but expressed his willingness to continue in a cordial and fruitful dialogue”, said Scialoja, who added that he “had not been expecting another apology”. The atmosphere at the 30-minute meeting, which was broadcast live on Vatican television and radio, appeared cordial. After delivering his speech the Pope greeted each of the envoys personally and chatted with them briefly. The leader of more than one billion Catholics has expressed regret at the response to his quoting 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who said the Prophet Mohammad commanded “to spread by the sword the faith he preached”.

The Pope said Christians and Muslims had to learn from the past and work for a better future. “I sincerely pray that the relations of trust which have developed between Christians and Muslims over several years, will not only continue, but will develop further in a spirit of sincere and respectful dialogue ...,” he said.

Iraqi ambassador Albert Edward Ismail Yelda also said he was satisfied with the speech.

“I pray to almighty God the crisis will be behind us,” he told reporters. “We need to sit together – Muslims, Christians, Jews and the rest of the world, the rest of religions, in order to find common ground for peaceful coexistence.”

The Pope has said his intention in using the quote in Germany two weeks ago was to explain that religion and violence do not go together but that religion and reason do. His speech to Muslim envoys, delivered in French but which the Vatican also made available in Arabic, made repeated references to the need for dialogue between faiths.

The envoys invited included those from the major Muslim countries like Indonesia, Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran and Iraq, among others, plus the League of Arab States.

Thousands of Muslims demonstrated against the Pope after last Friday’s prayers at mosques around the world, but the anger and the size of the protests appears to be diminishing.

Excerpts of Pope Benedict’s speech to Muslim envoys </B>