Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 2:02am
Iran's leader sends message to Pope
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a message to Pope Benedict XVI urging greater understanding between religions, officials said Wednesday. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki arrived in the Vatican City to deliver in person Ahmadinejad's message, his latest letter in a series of missives to world leaders, the official news agency IRNA reported.
"It is not a political letter," Ehsan Jahandideh of the Iranian president's press office said. "President Ahmadinejad insisted in his letter on the common teachings of the prophets and the importance of establishing new political and human relations based on those teachings.
"The unjust relations that exist at the moment require the cooperation of different religions to remedy them," Jahandideh quoted the letter as saying.
IRNA said that Mottaki was scheduled to deliver the message at noon to Pope Benedict, who was accused of linking Islam to violence in a controversial lecture earlier this year, Agence France Presse reported.
The Iranian leader wrote a series of letters in recent months expounding his world view. In November, Ahmadinejad wrote a letter to the American people, in which he urged the 144,000 U.S. troops to leave Iraq.
He also wrote a letter in July to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, complaining that Germany was being exploited by "greedy Zionists."
In May, the firebrand leader wrote President Bush, lashing out at the invasion of Iraq, questioning Israel's right to exist and telling Bush to be more pious.
"It is not a political letter," Ehsan Jahandideh of the Iranian president's press office said. "President Ahmadinejad insisted in his letter on the common teachings of the prophets and the importance of establishing new political and human relations based on those teachings.
"The unjust relations that exist at the moment require the cooperation of different religions to remedy them," Jahandideh quoted the letter as saying.
IRNA said that Mottaki was scheduled to deliver the message at noon to Pope Benedict, who was accused of linking Islam to violence in a controversial lecture earlier this year, Agence France Presse reported.
The Iranian leader wrote a series of letters in recent months expounding his world view. In November, Ahmadinejad wrote a letter to the American people, in which he urged the 144,000 U.S. troops to leave Iraq.
He also wrote a letter in July to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, complaining that Germany was being exploited by "greedy Zionists."
In May, the firebrand leader wrote President Bush, lashing out at the invasion of Iraq, questioning Israel's right to exist and telling Bush to be more pious.