Pope in Jordan

Benedict's week-long tour of Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories aims in part to balance Vatican relations with Jews and Muslims; and repair the Pope's image in the Muslim world.

The Pope met with Muslim religious leaders, and members of the diplomatic corps in Jordan in front of the al-Hussein bin Talal mosque in Amman.

"Often it is ideological manipulation of religion, sometimes with political goals, that is the catalyst for tensions and schisms," the 82-year-old pontiff said.

"Today Muslims and Christians -- because of the burden of their mutual history full of misunderstandings -- have to strive to be seen and recognized as believers truly loyal to the commandments."

Pope Benedict failed to use the opportunity to apologise over the so-called Regensburg lecture, which he gave in 2006. In that speech the pontiff quoted a medieval Christian emperor who criticised teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman."

Jordanian Islamist leaders, still sensitive about the pontiff's comments, had demanded his visit be cancelled.

Pope urges mutual respect and cooperation.

In an address at the Moses Memorial Church on Mount Nebo on Saturday morning, the Pope called for reconciliation between Christians and Jews and reminded the two faiths of their shared heritage.

"May our encounter today inspire in us a renewed love for the canon of sacred scripture," he said, "and a desire to overcome all obstacles to the reconciliation of Christians and Jews in mutual respect and cooperation."

The 840-metre summit of Mount Nebo, some 40 kilometres southwest of the capital Amman, is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. The site is where the bible says God showed Moses the Promised Land.

"The ancient tradition of pilgrimage to the holy places also reminds us of the inseparable bond between the Church and the Jewish people," he said.

"His example reminds us that we too are part of the ageless pilgrimage of God's people through history."

After descending from the mountain, hundreds of people waving Jordanian and Vatican flags greeted Benedict in the town of Madaba, where he visited the Greek Orthodox Basilica of St George, famous for its sixth century mosaic map of biblical Palestine.

While in Madaba, Benedict blessed the cornerstone of a new Catholic university being built there with help from Jordan, a Muslim country keen to maintain interfaith harmony.

"Belief in God does not suppress the truth; to the contrary, it encourages it," said the former German theology professor.

"Religion is disfigured when it is pressed into the service of ignorance or prejudice, contempt, violence and abuse."

He said the new university, which will teach in English, would produce "generations of qualified men and women of Christian, Muslim and of other religions ... educated in the values of wisdom, integrity, tolerance and peace."