VATICAN CITY: The Vatican said Saturday Pope Benedict XVI "sincerely regrets" Muslims have been offended by some of his words in a recent speech in Germany, but stopped short of issuing an apology the Islamic world has demanded and retracting his remarks, arguing they had been misinterpreted.

In a statement, the new Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said the pope's position on Islam is unmistakably in line with Vatican teaching that the church regards Muslims with "esteem."

Thus, the pope "sincerely regrets that certain passages of his address could have sounded offensive to the sensitivities of the Muslim faithful and should have been interpreted in a manner that in no way corresponds to his intentions," Bertone said.

Earlier in the week, the words, in a speech Benedict gave to university professors during a pilgrimage to his homeland, angered many in the Islamic world.

Muslim leaders demanded the pope apologize for his remarks on Islam and jihad, or holy war. The Vatican has said that Benedict only meant to emphasize the incompatibility between faith and war.

Benedict on Tuesday cited an obscure Medieval text that characterizes some of the teachings of holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his pure progeny) as "evil and inhuman" — comments some experts took as a signal the Vatican was staking a more demanding stance for its dealings with the Muslim world.