Reply #89: Yes, because clearly the pope wants to offend Muslims pointlessly.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

If the pope were opposed to Islam, his objective would be to stir up as much anti-Islamic feeling among non-Muslims for as little offence caused to Muslims as possible. Suggesting that he would deliberately endorse something that would offend Muslims but not stir up anti-Islamic sentiment (or, indeed, contain any substantive criticisms of Islam), and then deny that he endorsed it, is just strains credibility well past breaking point.

The only people who will take offence at this are a) those (I suspect including you) who are actively looking for excuses to take offence at things the Pope says and b) those who either don't hear or don't think about what he actually said.