Al-Azhar Grand Imam congratulates Pope Leo XIV on his election

CAIRO – 8 May 2025: Grand Imam of al-Azhar Ahmed el-Tayeb congratulated, on Thursday Pope Leo XIV on his election as Pope of the Catholic Church.

El Tayeb said that he is looking forward to continuing collaboration with the new Pope in strengthening interfaith dialogue and promoting the values of human fraternity, in pursuit of global peace, coexistence, and a better future for all humanity.

“My sincere congratulations to Pope Leo XIV on his election as Pope of the Catholic Church. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with His Holiness in strengthening interfaith dialogue and promoting the values of human fraternity, in pursuit of global peace, coexistence, and a better future for all humanity,” el-Tayeb wrote on his X account.

Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected on Thursday as the first American pope, and took the name Leo XIV.

Prevost, 69, will be the267th pontiff after being elected by the College of Cardinals to succeed Pope Francis, who died April 21 at the age of 88.

According to Vatican news, Prevost was Born in Chicago in 1955 to parents of Spanish and Franco-Italian descent.

He spent his childhood and adolescence with his family and studied first at the Minor Seminary of the Augustinian Fathers and then at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where in 1977 he earned a Degree in Mathematics and also studied Philosophy.