Sisi to hold celebration in honor of Pope Francis

CAIRO - 4 April 2017: Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi will hold a celebration in honor of Pope Francis, leader of the Roman Catholic Church, who will arrive in Cairo on April 28, Egyptian Presidential Spokesperson Alaa Youssef said in a Monday statement.

The Holy Father and President Sisi will address those gathered at the celebration, which is scheduled to be held at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, the statement added.

According to the program of the Pope’s visit, which is detailed in the statement, a formal reception will be held for the Holy Father. He will then meet President Sisi at the palace on the same day.

“Egypt welcomes Pope Francis' first visit to Cairo and looks forward to this significant visit to promote peace and disseminate the principles of tolerance and coexistence,” Youssef said.

During his two-day visit, Pope Francis will meet with Al-Azhar's Grand Imam Dr. Ahmed El Tayeb and deliver a speech before the global peace conference, organized by Al-Azhar, the spokesperson added.

After his meeting with Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, Pope Francis will participate in a prayer for the victims of the terrorist attack that took place at St. Peter and St. Paul's Church in December 2016.

Pope Francis will

lead a Catholic mass

at Cairo Stadium on April 29, Nader Gerges, head of the Egyptian Tourism Ministry’s Committee of Reviving the Path of the Holy Family, said Thursday.

In November 2014, President Sisi met with Pope Francis at the Apostolic Palace in Rome. Both sides discussed the resumption of dialogue between Al-Azhar and the Vatican by reactivating the Al-Azhar-Vatican joint committee for dialogue.

The dialogue was suspended in 2011 after the former Roman Catholic Pope, Benedict XVI, called for protecting Coptic Christians in Egypt following an attack in Alexandria, on the Mediterranean Sea, in 2011. On the eve of 2011 a bomb detonated outside Two Saints Church and claimed lives of 23 people, injuring more than 90 others.