The pope took a trip to Egypt and had a strong message about religious violence.
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Pope Francis leads the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession during Good Friday celebrations in front of the Colosseum in Rome, Italy, April 14, 2017.
At Al-Azhar, he embraced the mosque’s grand imam, Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, who urged the West not to hold an entire religion “accountable for the crimes of any small group of followers”. But the general-turned-president has been criticized for human rights violations and was initially shunned by much of the West after ousting the country’s first democratically elected president in 2013, the Islamist Mohammed Morsi whose one-year rule proved divisive.
Copts have been broadly supportive of the government of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi which has certainly been more supportive of Christians than the Muslim Brotherhood government of former President Morsi. “And this is true”.
The pontiff also acknowledged that Sisi had spoken “with a clarity that merits attention and appreciation” against extremism, which destroys diversity. “History does not forgive those who talk about equality but then discard those who are different”.
Tensions with the North presumably would be on the agenda of a Trump-Francis meeting.
After the peace conference, the Pope and the Egyptian President arrived at Al-Masa Hotel and addressed religious and political dignitaries.
The world’s eyes have been on the Catholic and Coptic Orthodox churches in Egypt following the Pope and his visit over the weekend.
He was joined by Coptic Orthodox Church Head Pope Tawadros II, CNN reported.
“He supports peace so conflicts don’t happen that create refugees”, said Bolden, 32.
In the meantime, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that Moscow supports China’s initiative to deescalate tensions around the Korean peninsula by calling on North Korea to refrain from carrying out further missile and nuclear tests in exchange for the US and South Korea suspending their military exercises in the region.
While Egypt has escaped the sort of sectarian violence that has decimated ancient Christian communities in Syria and Iraq, it is under threat from Islamic State militants who launched a campaign in December to wipe out Egypt’s Christians, carrying out three church attacks that have killed more than 70 people.
It was the climax of a busy day for the 80-year-old pope.
The visit was hailed by Egyptian Catholics, who haven’t seen a pope in their land since St. John Paul II visited in 2000.
“With that being said, he loves China and he loves the people of China”.
She said she “was happy with what the Pope said” the day before when he gave a speech at the prestigious al-Azhar University for the International Conference on Peace.
Pope Francis said that the parents of Mr. Regeni had appealed to him for help and the Holy See had subsequently intervened in this case, and he added that he was personally very concerned about it. The privilege of being together here in Egypt is a sign that the solidity of our relationship is increasing year by year, and that we are growing in closeness, faith and love of Christ our Lord.
“We have lived through hard moments but we have overcome them”, she said, apparently referring to Coptic church bombings in December and April claimed by the Islamic State group that killed dozens of worshippers. “It was a meeting of religions”. Francis was speaking while traveling home from Egypt.
Nagwa Kamal, a maths teacher at a Coptic Catholic school in Cairo, said she was delighted to be in the Argentine pontiff’s presence. In his homily, Francis urged attendees to be good to their fellow Egyptians and not be hypocritical in their faith, saying “the only fanaticism believers can have is that of charity”.
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But Francis, while aware of the historical aspect of his visit, seemed to be pointing his message at the world powers today.
