SIR - Since the Pope's unfortunate quotation from a 600-year-old text, for which he has apologised profusely, we have witnessed a steady stream of abuse from Muslims all over the world.

Surely it is time the Christian viewpoint was allowed to be expressed.

It should be said that the attacks on the Pope's integrity and the suggestion that he, in any way, intended his statement to be an insult to the Prophet Mohammed is slanderous, not only to the Pope personally, but to the whole Catholic Church.

To even suggest the Pope had any malice towards the Muslim faith is untrue. The Pope, whose morality and virtue are beyond question, is the most holy leader of an ancient religion. These unfounded accusations are an affront to the Pope's honour and should be soundly condemned by the Catholic Church.

I also find it utterly incompatible that Muslims all over the world, in order to demonstrate their outrage at being labelled violent, resort to the most horrific and disproportionate violence themselves, including rioting, inciting murder, burning effigies and fire-bombing churches.

Malcolm Wood, Westercroft View, Northowram