RELIGION Pope addresses Egypt Muslims, calls for peace
Pope Francis, bringing a message of peace to Egypt, calls for the rejection of all violence, retaliation and hatred committed in God’s name, and embraces a Muslim religious leader.
CAIRO — Pope Francis on Friday won over the Egyptian audience with his first few words, spoken in Arabic: “Peace be with you.”
“There is no justification for violence,” he said to applause during a peace conference in Cairo, adding that clerics and other religious leaders must expose those responsible for extremist violence.
“Together, from this land that is the place where civilizations converged, we must reaffirm our categorical rejection of all forms of violence, retaliation and hatred that are perpetrated in the name of God,” he said to more applause, calling for brotherhood and reconciliation.
After he finished speaking, the pope turned and embraced Sheikh Ahmed Tayeb, the grand imam of Al Azhar mosque, the paramount seat of learning for Sunni Islam, in a moment that many in the audience later said moved them as much as the antiterrorism and pro-peace message presented by both religious leaders.
“Maybe we’re a bit emotional in Egypt,” said Mona Abdelhaseeb, 33, a researcher at Al Azhar, as she left. “But for someone who doesn’t speak Italian or Arabic, it’s all they need to understand.”
Francis arrived in Cairo earlier and emerged beaming from his plane to greet and bless a receiving line of supporters, including leaders of various faiths.
Prime Minister Sherif Ismail was the first to welcome the pope on the tarmac. There, a mother and son approached with flowers, and the pontiff paused to bless them.
Among others greeting the pope at the airport was Chaldean Christian Bishop Basilio Rialto of Baghdad. Rialto, who served for seven years as assistant pastor of a church in Michigan and said earlier that he knows Chaldeans all over the world are watching to see how the pope’s trip goes.
“We need the peace, especially in our country. The pope’s visit is going to give a lot of support, especially to Christians in the Middle East,” Rialto said.
The visit was a diplomatic breakthrough for the Vatican after Tayeb severed relations with Rome in 2011, when Pope Benedict XVI demanded Egypt better protect its Christian minority after a New Year’s Eve church bombing that killed over 20 people.
Francis, an Argentine Jesuit, did make a few subtle criticisms, including a demand for “unconditional respect for inalienable human rights such as equality among all citizens, religious freedom and freedom of expression, without any distinction.”
“It is our duty to proclaim together that history does not forgive those who preach justice, but then practice injustice,” Francis said. “History does not forgive those who talk about equality but then discard those who are different.”
Francis later went to the seat of the Coptic Orthodox Church to meet its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II.
The two popes and the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, Patriarch Bartholomew I, presided at an ecumenical prayer service in St. Peter’s Church, where a suicide bombing in December killed 30, most of them women.