On the heels of two Palm Sunday church bombings that killed dozens of Christians in Egypt, Pope Francis visited Cairo to take part in a World Conference on Peace hosted by the country’s top Sunni Muslim leader.
Francis; Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew; Coptic Pope Tawadros II; and Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of the Egyptian Muslim institution al-Azhar, gathered April 27–28.
They met “to eliminate the causes of conflict, violence and hate” and call for peace among all countries and religions, according to The Christian Post.
‘Overwhelming crises’
Officials with the Egyptian Islamic seminary say “human society is currently experiencing overwhelming crises threatening our existence and destroying the essence of human life” and the “bloody, armed conflicts” that have resulted “contradict sublime religious values and humanitarian ideals.”
The seminary called for cooperation to eliminate suffering and violence, according to the Post.
Francis did too — during his speech at the conference, he urged leaders to foster “unconditional respect for inalienable human rights such as equality among all citizens, religious freedom and freedom of expression, without any distinction,” according to the New York Times.
About 10 percent of the population of Egypt is Christian. (TAB)
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