Vatican-Muslim dialogue back to square one - cardinal

PARIS, Oct 4 (Reuters) Vatican relations with the Islamic world must be restarted from square one because Muslims insist on misinterpreting Pope Benedict's recent comments on Islam, Germany's top Catholic cardinal said in an article TOday.

Cardinal Karl Lehmann, head of the German Catholic Bishops Conference, accused Muslim critics of running a campaign against the Pope and said the Pontiff had nothing to apologise for.

The blunt comments from Lehmann, whose rich and influential church has close ties to the German-born Pope, seem to have been sparked by an unusual call from the 56-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) for him to retract his words.

The OIC call came a day after Benedict had received Muslim ambassadors to the Vatican and repeated his regrets for any misunderstanding of his September 12 speech in which he quoted a Byzantine emperor saying Islam was evil and violent.

''These open or hidden threats have to stop,'' Lehmann said in the weekly newspaper of his Mainz diocese.

''Obviously we have to start at square one because we're not talking here about important contents of a necessary dialogue, but about the fundamental requirements for one to succeed.

''There is freedom of religion and speech in our civilisation. The Pope can also be criticised. But there are elementary rules that apply for factual and fair contacts with each other and with clear statements,'' he wrote.

''One cannot constantly repeat completely unfounded misunderstandings when the texts are so clear.'' The dispute over Benedict's use of a quote sharply critical of Islam has further strained Vatican ties with Muslims who already knew he has spoken in the past against Turkey's entry into the European Union because of that country's Islamic roots.

Benedict's repeated protest that he did not agree with the quote has not convinced Muslim critics, who say he has still not gone far enough to undo the damage they feel he has done.

Some accuse him of undoing years of bridge-building by his predecessor. ''When John Paul was pope, there was no problem for Muslims,'' commented Cemal Usak, a Turkish Muslim activist. ''Pope Benedict may not like Islam but he has to respect Muslims.'' ''A FULL-BLOWN CAMPAIGN'' Lehmann noted that Benedict's speech in Regensburg during a visit to his native Bavaria evoked no critical reaction at first and journalists had no questions about it at a news conference the cardinal gave after the Pope left Munich on September 14.

''Only a few days later did a full-blown campaign from outside begin,'' he wrote, calling it ''astounding'' that critics should repeatedly say the Pope had insulted Islam and Muslims.

Lehmann's article echoed a statement last week by the bishops he leads complaining some critics had tried to escalate the dispute with ''ever new charges, demands or even threats''.

''The Catholic Church and many people in our country and around the world, who respect and defend the right of free speech, will not be bullied,'' the bishops' conference said after its meeting in Fulda last week.

The German bishops, an influential voice at the Vatican because of their church's financial power and theological depth, also repeated Benedict's frequent calls for Muslim countries to give their Christian minorities equal rights.

Meeting shortly after a Berlin theatre cancelled a Mozart opera for fear it might prompt Muslim protests, the bishops also expressed concern about self-censorship over religion.

''We are concerned that fear of religiously motivated violence is spreading, not only in Germany, and leading to a direct or indirect limitation of free speech,'' they said.

REUTERS DKA BD2133