Text of Pope's speech
The following is the text of Pope Benedict XVI's speech to Muslim envoys, in which the pontiff tried to defuse tensions between the Catholic Church and Islam over comments he made earlier this month in southern Germany.

I am pleased to welcome you to this gathering that I wanted to arrange in order to strengthen the bonds of friendship and solidarity between the Holy See and Muslim communities throughout the world.

I thank Cardinal Poupard, President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, for the words that he has just addressed to me, and I thank all of you for responding to my invitation.

The circumstances which have given rise to our gathering are well known. I have already had occasion to dwell upon them in the course of the past week. the rest