Pope visits Egypt, holds Mass for Catholics
CAIRO - Pope Francis wrapped up a brief but deeply symbolic visit to Egypt on Saturday with an open-air Mass for the country’s tiny Catholic community, defying security concerns to show his support for the Christians of this Muslim majority Arab nation who have increasingly become targeted by Islamic militants.
Military helicopters flew overhead and police fanned out in force as Francis zoomed around the soccer stadium in suburban Cairo where Mass was held, using an opentopped golf cart and waving to members of the congregation, evidence of his hallmark desire to be close to his flock at all costs.
The crowd cheered him wildly, waving Egyptian and Holy See flags and swaying to hymns sung by church choirs. The military-run stadium has a capacity of 25,000, but only about 15,000 people attended — a reflection that Catholics represent less than 1% of Egypt’s 92 million people. But the relatively modest number and the draconian security did not dampen their jubilant mood. Francis engaged the crowd with waves and smiles, and gave his blessings to the children hoisted up by their parents.
In his homily, Francis urged them to be good and merciful to their fellow Egyptians, saying “the only fanaticism believers can have is that of charity!”
“Any other fanaticism does not come from God and is not pleasing to him!” he said.
It was a very pastoral message after Francis on his first day demanded that Muslim leaders renounce religious fanaticism that leads to violence. Francis made the appeal during a landmark visit to Cairo’s Al-Azhar, the revered 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni Islam learning that trains clerics and scholars from around the world.
Security was exceptionally tight around the stadium and in the upscale neighborhood where Francis spent the night, with uniformed and plainclothed police stationed every meter or so along his motorcade route. Police used metal detectors to check vehicles for explosives and armed guards stood watch, some on rooftops, their faces covered.
But Francis decided to forgo the bullet-proof “popemobile” his predecessors used on foreign trips and drove through Cairo in a simple Fiat, his window rolled down.
The pope’s gestures — the simple Fiat and the open-topped golf cart — sent a defiant message to the extremist Islamic State group, whose local affiliate in Egypt has vowed to target Egypt’s Christians to punish them for their support of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
As defense minister in 2013, El-Sissi led the military’s ouster of the Islamist Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president whose oneyear rule proved divisive. El-Sissi was elected president a year later and is widely expected to run for a second, four-year term in office in June 2018.
Recent attacks on churches — one in Cairo in December and twin Palm Sunday attacks in cities north of the Egyptian capital — have claimed at least 75 lives.