AMMAN (AFP/Reuters) - Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday urged inter-faith reconciliation on the second day of a Holy Land tour but disappointed Muslim clerics by failing to offer a new apology for remarks seen as targeting Islam. The Pope visited a mosque on Saturday in another attempt to mend fences with Islam after a 2006 speech caused offence. The pontiff in a keynote address to Muslim leaders in Ammans huge Al-Hussein Mosque bemoaned ideological manipulation of religion and urged Muslims and Christians to unite as worshippers of God. Religion should be a force for unity not division, he said. Certainly, the contradiction of tensions and divisions between the followers of different religious traditions, sadly, cannot be denied, the Pope told his audience. Among his audience in Ammans huge Al-Hussein Mosque was Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly, head of the Chaldean Church, Iraqs largest Christian denomination, who made the trip to the Jordanian capital for the papal visit. However, is it not also the case that often it is the ideological manipulation of religion, sometimes for political ends, that is the real catalyst for tension and division, and at times even violence in society? Some clerics expressed disappointment however that the pontiff in his wide-ranging speech had made no new apology for a 2006 address in which he quoted a medieval Christian emperor who criticised some teachings of the Holy Prophet (SAW). The pontiff apologised at the time for the unfortunate misunderstanding but ahead of his visit to Jordan the kingdoms main Opposition party, the Islamic Action Front, said the Pope was not welcome unless he again apologised. What the Pope said was not an apology, said Hammam Said, the overall leader of Jordans Muslim Brotherhood and University of Jordan professor. Other Muslim leaders echoed his comments. We wanted him to clearly apologise, Sheikh Yusef Abu Hussein, mufti of the southern city of Karak, told AFP after the popes address. But Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, Jordanian King Abdullah IIs advisor on religious affairs who hosted the pontiff during his visit to the mosque, was more conciliatory. I would like to thank you for expressing regret over the lecture in 2006, which hurt the feelings of Muslims, Ghazi told the Pope. We realise that the visit (to Jordan) comes as a goodwill gesture and a sign of mutual respect between Muslims and Christians. The Prince reminded the Pope of the hurt Muslims around the world felt in 2006 after Benedict quoted a Byzantine emperor who said Islam was irrational and violent. Pope Benedict did not remove his shoes during the keynote address at the mosque, as is customary in Muslim shrines, but a spokesman insisted he had not been asked to do so as he used a special walkway. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the Pope did not remove his shoes or pray while in the mosque, as he did during his first visit to a mosque in Turkey in 2006, but rather paused for a respectful moment of reflection. Benedict XVI was ready to take them off but his escorts led him down a special walkway and did not ask him to do so, Lombardi said. Pope Benedict XVI urged the world to make every effort to protect Iraqs Christian minority. I urge diplomats and the international community they represent, together with local political and religious leaders, to do everything possible to ensure the ancient Christian community of that noble land its fundamental right to peaceful coexistence with their fellow citizens, the pontiff said. The pope also called for continued efforts to reconcile Iraqs feuding religious groups and reconstruct the country after decades of war and sanctions.