"I should like to reiterate all the esteem and the profound respect that I have for Muslim believers," the pontiff told the ambassadors and charge d'affaires from 22 Muslim countries invited to his summer residence outside Rome.
The meeting was the latest step in an unprecedented diplomatic offensive by the Vatican aimed at allaying Muslim anger over comments by the Pope in which he quoted from a medieval text that criticized some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as "evil and inhuman."
"I am profoundly convinced that in the current world situation it is imperative that Christians and Muslims engage with one another in order to address the numerous challenges that present themselves to humanity," the Pope said. "Christians and Muslims must learn to work together ... in order to guard against all forms of intolerance and to oppose all manifestations of violence," he added.
The meeting at Castel Gandolfo, heavily promoted by the Vatican as a major step in reaffirming the Pope's commitment to inter-religious harmony, lasted barely 30 minutes.
After his address, the Pope shook hands and exchanged a few words with the assembled envoys, some of whom expressed satisfaction with the meeting.
Iraq's envoy to the Vatican said later that it was time to build bridges between different faiths.
"I think it is time to put what happened behind us and build bridges among all the civilizations," said Ambassador Albert Yelda, while nevertheless defending the anger that had greeted the pope's comments earlier this month. "The Pope emphasized his profound respect to all the Muslims around the world. It was what we expected, it was what we had," said Yelda.
"Many Muslims around the world were offended," he said. "They expressed their feelings and they were right to do so. They demonstrated anger. Everybody has a right to express his feeling."
Mohamed Nour Dachan, the president of one of several Italian Muslim groups who also attended the meeting, said that the Pope's message had been "crystal clear."
"Dialogue is just as much a priority for Muslims as it is for Christians," he said, adding that as far his group was concerned the chapter on the controversy surrounding the pope's comments in Germany had already been closed before Monday's gathering.
A furor erupted in the Muslim world when the Pope made a speech September 12 at the University of Regensburg in Germany, in which he quoted a medieval Christian emperor who equated Islam with violence.
While insisting that the content of his lecture had been misinterpreted, the Pope sought to calm the situation last week, saying that he was deeply sorry for any offense that Muslims might have taken from his comments.
His audience Monday included envoys from Iran, Turkey - which Benedict is scheduled to visit November 28 to 30 - and Morocco, whose Vatican ambassador had been recalled for consultations when the row over the speech broke.
Dialogue between different faiths "cannot be reduced to an optional extra" the Pope said, adding that it was rather "a vital necessity" on which "in large measure our future depends."
The Pope told the diplomats that he had called the meeting in order to strengthen the bonds of friendship and solidarity between the Vatican and Muslim communities, and offered his good wishes to Muslims worldwide during the holy month of Ramadan.
The Pope, speaking in French, referred briefly to the controversy. "The circumstances which prompted our meeting are well known," he remarked, stressing his desire to continue the task begun by his predecessor Pope John Paul II in developing inter-religious dialogue.
He said that he wished that relations of confidence that had developed over years between Christians and Muslims "will not only continue but develop in a spirit of sincere and respectful dialogue."
The pontiff also stressed the need for what he called authentic dialogue "in a world marked by relativism, and excluding all too frequently the transcendence of the universality of reason."
Pope Bendict called on religious authorities and political leaders to assume their responsibilities in helping nations combat "all forms of intolerance and resisting all manifestations of violence."
© 2006 Agence France-Presse
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