ROME, Italy: The Vatican says Pope Benedict XVI did not mean to offend Muslims with remarks he made in Germany this week about Muhammad, holy war and forced conversions.

Muslim leaders in several countries demanded he apologize to the Muslim world and urged him to play a positive role in bringing Islam and Christianity closer.

Benedict provoked the outcry with comments on Tuesday in a theological lecture to staff and students at the University of Regensburg, in the most political part of a largely personal visit to his native Bavaria in southern Germany.

Couching his criticism in a historical reference to a 14th century Byzantine emperor, the pope implicitly denounced connections between Islam and violence, particularly with regard to jihad, or "holy war".

"He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached,'" Benedict said, quoting the Byzantine source on the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him and his pure progeny).

Senior Islamic officials in Kuwait demanded an immediate apology from the pope to the Muslim world.