Scottish Catholic Observer

“The meeting is the message,” the Pope said upon encountering the imam for the first time on Monday, the resumption of a dialogue between al-Azhar and the Vatican after a five-year suspension.

The Holy Father gave the imam a medallion portraying the olive of peace and copies of his environmental encyclical Laudato Si’.

The two leaders parted ways with an embrace and a double kiss.

According to a press statement from the Vatican, they both noted the ‘great significance’ of this meeting in the framework of dialogue between the Catholic Church and Islam.

“[They] spoke mostly about the issue of the common commitment of the authorities and faithful of great religions for peace in the world, the rejection of violence and terrorism, the situation of Christians in the context of conflicts and tensions in the Middle East and their protection,” the Vatican said of the meeting, which lasted 25 minutes and took place in the Pope’s private library.

The relationship between the Vatican and the Cairo-based Al-Azhar, considered the most prestigious institution of Sunni Islam, was interrupted in 2011, in response to comments made by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. At the time, following a series of attacks against Christian churches in Alexandria, Pope Benedict demanded more protection for Christians in Egypt, which Al-Azhar took as the pontiff meddling in the internal affairs of another country.

Pope Francis had sent the invitation to the imam last November, when a representative of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, French Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran, went to Egypt in an attempt to revive the relations.

Sheikh El-Tayeb has been imam of the al-Azhar Mosque since 2010 and rector of the university since 2003. The Pope had said he wished to meet with the imam back in February, during an inflight press conference.

“I want to meet him,” the Iiam said. “I know that he would like it.”

—This story ran in full in the May 27 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.