Pope Message to Egyptian Muslims: Reject Violence, Embrace Peace

At the start of his historic two-day visit to Egypt, Pope Francis urged Muslims to embrace peace and coexistence with Christians.

After meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the pope paid a historic visit to Cairo's Al-Azhar, the 1,000-year-old world-renowned Sunni Muslim university of higher learning.

Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb welcomed Pope Francis to the university, where the pope said religious leaders were obliged to "expose attempts to justify every form of hatred in the name of religion and to condemn these attempts as idolatrous caricatures of God."

The pope praised ancient Egyptian society for its long-standing commitment to knowledge and open-mindedness. He said the same commitment is needed today to combat the "barbarity" of religious extremism and incitements to violence. 

The audience at al-Azhar interrupted the pope's speech with applause several times. 

At the same gathering, Sheik el-Tayeb said there are more "barbarian" acts being committed in the world today than at any time in history. He told the pope that al-Azhar University is working on advancing a culture of co-existence with Christians and a respect for dialogue. 

In the past, President el-Sisi has outspokenly expressed his desire to advance moderate Islam and encourage Islamic reformation. He has fought aggressively against Muslim extremists and Islamic State terrorists in the Egyptian Sinai and elsewhere in Egypt. 

But Christians say he has not done enough to protect them and their churches from Islamic extremists. Also, they have expressed disappointment that a law allowing new church construction has yet to be enforced.

Christians are at least ten percent of the Egyptian population of 88-million people. Often they experience discrimination in the Muslim-dominated society. Many have faced persecution and death. 
Extremists have attacked their churches and have destroyed their homes and business.

In a gesture of Christian unity, Pope Francis is set to meet with Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II and Patriarch Bartholomew, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church.  

Egypt's Christians said they were encouraged by Pope Francis' visit. It comes within days of two church bombings on Palm Sunday in Alexandria and Tanta, and an earlier bombing during Christmas in Cairo.
 At least 75 people were killed in those three incidents.