Now, can we all just settle down?

The Pope’s meeting today with Muslim officials went well, it seems. Benedict assured them of his respect for them and his commitment to dialogue.

In a speech to diplomatic envoys from some 20 Muslim countries plus the leaders of Italy’s own Muslim community at his summer residence south of Rome, the Pope said both Christians and Muslims had to reject violence.

Several of the envoys who attended said they considered the meeting had gone a long way to help end the controversy that began two weeks ago with a speech by the Pope at a university in his native Germany.

So, will this bring people to their senses?

“I think this meeting has resolved many problems … we can close this controversy,” said Khalil Altoubat, a member of the Italian Muslim community’s liaison group with the government.

Now tell that to the rest of the Muslim community.

Mario Scialoja, an adviser to the Italian section of the World Muslim League who attended the audience, told Reuters afterwards he thought it was a “very good and warm speech”…

Iraqi ambassador Albert Edward Ismail Yelda also said he was satisfied with the speech.

“I pray to almighty God the crisis will be behind us,” he told reporters. “We need to sit together — Muslims, Christians, Jews and the rest of the world, the rest of religions, in order to find common ground for peaceful coexistence.”

The Pope’s speech was also published by the Vatican newspaper in Arabic. In it, Benedict repeatedly called for dialogue between the faiths.

But he also quoted from an address by his predecessor John Paul calling for “reciprocity in all spheres” of relations between Islam and Christianity. This was a reference to Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries where minority Christians do not enjoy full religious freedom.

That’s an understatement. So will Reuters and company be following up on what religious freedom Christians do enjoy?