"I offer warm and affectionate greetings to you and to all those who belong to the religions that you represent," he said. "I am particularly grateful for the presence in our midst of members of the Muslim community."
Benedict said he was grateful for the "growth" of Muslim-Christian dialogue. "I assure you that the church wants to continue building bridges of friendship with the followers of all religions," Benedict said.
Inter-Christian relations and talks with non-Christian religions were among the works Pope John Paul II's pursued most avidly. As the cardinal in charge of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Benedict issued a document arguing the supremacy of Catholicism. Reports in Italian journals and newspapers said he was unenthusiastic about a series of prayer meetings that John Paul held in Assisi with leaders of non-Christian religions that included Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam.
Before Benedict's election, Vatican officials suggested that the new pope, whoever he was, would rethink the outreach to Islam. The officials expressed disappointment that Christian minorities in several Muslim countries had continued to suffer discrimination.
On Sunday, Benedict said the primary reason for dialogue with other religions was to build peace.
His outreach to Orthodox Christianity met its first roadblock Monday when the Russian Orthodox patriarch, Alexy II, said Benedict could not visit Russia until the two churches resolved long-standing differences. "There cannot be a visit just for the sake of a visit," Alexy told the Interfax news agency. "There cannot be a meeting purely for television cameras."
The Russian church contends that Catholics are recruiting believers in Russia, which Alexy considers his church's territory. The patriarch told Interfax that Russian Orthodox believers are discriminated against in western Ukraine, where the Ukrainian Catholic Church, an eastern rite church that accepts the primacy of the pope, is strong.
Apcom, an Italian news agency, reported that Benedict met privately Monday morning with a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church.
