Brussels, Sept 21 (IRNA) A Dutch Member of the European Parliament criticized Wednesday the Islam-insulting remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI as "unwise" and "unnecessary."

"What the Pope did was very unwise and unnecessary," said Jan Marinus Wiersma, vice-president of the Socialist Group of the European Parliament, in response to IRNA's question during a meeting with a group of journalists in Brussels Wednesday afternoon.

Pope Benedict gave the impression, he said, that all Muslims are violent. "It is unjust and not fair,'' said Wiersma a member of the EP's Foreign Affairs Committee.

In a speech on 'Faith and Reason' at the Regensburg University in Germany last week, the German-born Pope Benedict XVI quoted anti- Islamic polemics of the Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Paleologus and also made reference to alleged forced conversion of Christians by Muslims causing uproar and anger in the Muslim world.

The Dutch MEP, who is writing a book on Islam, countered by referring to the Spanish Inquisition of the Middle Ages where thousands of Muslim Moors were forced to convert to Christianity.

He noted that the pontiff's remarks were "adding fuel to fire which nobody wants."
On Sunday, the Pope said that he was sorry for the reactions in the Muslim world over his remarks which did not express his own views.

On Wednesday during his weekly audience in the Vatican he expressed his "deep respect" for Islam.

The Socialist group is the second-largest in the EP with 200 members in the 732-member House.