Catholic Pope Francis to visit Egypt later this month

By Mohamed Mahmoud

CAIRO

Catholic Pope Francis will visit Egypt on April 28 and 29, the Egyptian presidency announced Monday.

In a statement, the presidency said Francis would meet President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi during his two-day visit.

The Catholic pope is also slated to meet with Ahmed al-Tayyib, the grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar (the highest seat of learning in the Sunni-Muslim world), and will also address a “world peace congress” that is being organized by Al-Azhar, according to the statement.

Francis is also set to meet Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II and attend a mass held for the victims of a December church attack in Cairo that left more than 27 people dead.

In 2011, Egypt’s Al-Azhar severed relations with the Vatican over what it described as repeated “insults” leveled against Islam by Francis’s predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.

Last year, the Vatican hosted Al-Azhar’s grand imam in the first ever meeting between the two religious leaders.

By Mohamed Mahmoud

CAIRO

Catholic Pope Francis will visit Egypt on April 28 and 29, the Egyptian presidency announced Monday.

In a statement, the presidency said Francis would meet President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi during his two-day visit.

Francis is also set to meet Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II and attend a mass held for the victims of a December church attack in Cairo that left more than 27 people dead.

In 2011, Egypt’s Al-Azhar severed relations with the Vatican over what it described as repeated “insults” leveled against Islam by Francis’s predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.

Last year, the Vatican hosted Al-Azhar’s grand imam in the first ever meeting between the two religious leaders.