Pope Francis called on leaders of
all religions to unmask attempts to use faith to justify
violence and hatred as he kicked off a two-day visit of Egypt on
Friday.
Francis was greeted by Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail
and Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak, the Coptic Catholic Patriarch of
Alexandria, as he got off the plane at Cairo airport.
The pope then travelled to the presidential palace to meet
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
The pope also visited the Grand Imam of al-Azhar and the two
leaders then addressed a peace conference at Cairo's Al-Azhar
University.
The Grand Imam of al-Azhar, currently Ahmed el-Tayeb, is one
of Sunni Islam's most senior figures.
The pope started his address by saying "As-salamu alaykum" -
Peace be with you.
"Violence is the negation of every authentic religious
expression," the Argentine pontiff told the conference.
"As religious leaders, we are called to unmask the violence
that masquerades as purported sanctity and is based more on the
"absolutizing" of selfishness than on authentic openness to the
Absolute.
"We have an obligation to denounce violations of human
dignity and human rights, to expose attempts to justify every
form of hatred in the name of religion, and to condemn these
attempts as idolatrous caricatures of God: Holy is his name, he
is the God of peace, God salaam.
"Peace alone, therefore, is holy and no act of violence can
be perpetrated in the name of God, for it would profane his
Name".
The pope has said he is travelling to Egypt as "a pilgrim of
peace".
Dozens were killed earlier this month in two bomb attacks on
two Coptic churches in Egypt on Palm Sunday.
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