Pope Tawadros meets with Pope Francis in Rome early July

CAIRO – 28 June 2018: Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria is slated to travel to Rome to meet with Pope Francis early July.

Pope Tawadros will be heading a church delegation that will be accompanying him during his anticipated visit and will expectedly meet with the Egyptian Coptic community.

During his official visit to the Vatican in 2013, Pope Twadros received a Virgin Mary pendant from Pope Francis and toured the archeological site of St. Peter's tomb and the Church of the Apostolic Palace.

Earlier, Pope Tawadros of Egypt was received by President of Lebanon Michel Aoun at the presidential residence, Baabda Palace, to inaugurate a Patriarchal Residence.

Aoun welcomed the heads of the Oriental Orthodox Churches: Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of Saint Mark Episcopate, and Catholicos Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia, who participated in the inauguration of the new Patriarchal Residence.

In his first papal visit to Egypt in 20 years, Pope Francis visited Egypt for two days in April 2017 and led a holy mass at Cairo Stadium where more than 25,000 Copts were in attendance.

The ten messages Pope Francis delivered in Egypt

CAIRO - 29 April 2017: Pope Francis concluded his two-day visit to Egypt with President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi bidding farewell to the Roman Catholic leader at Cairo Airport at the end of the visit. The Pope started his visit by meeting the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, as he urged leaders of all religions to denounce violence and terror acts committed under God's name.

Additional reporting by Rehab Ismail