Pope Francis man of humanity of a high caliber: Egypt’s Azhar imam to US religious dialogue delegation

CAIRO – 16 February 2023: Grand Imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar Ahmed El-Tayeb has praised Pope Francis as a man of humanity of a high caliber in a meeting on Thursday with a US religious dialogue delegation.

Egyptian Minister of Emigration Soha El-Gendy, priest James Pike of Lutheran Church of Orange County and Professor Richard Rose at University of La Verne attended the meeting with El-Tayeb.

During the meeting, Tayeb welcomed the delegation, stressing that peace, dialogue and acceptance of the other is his main concern, adding that this has been the foundation on which the joint efforts between Al-Azhar and Pope Francis were based.

Tayeb said the convergence of visions with Pope Francis led us to create the Document on Human Fraternity, which took a full year of hard work to come out to the world in its current form.

He added the document serves as a global document that establishes true global peace and a world in which everyone enjoys understanding, tolerance and coexistence.

Islam is keen on maintaining peace and human rights and renouncing violence and extremism, Tayeb said during the meeting.

Tayeb affirmed that peace, coexistence and love are what builds a better world, and that Egypt is one of the best countries that is keen on maintaining these values permanently.

For their part, the participants expressed their happiness at participating in the meeting with Tayeb and his patience in answering various relevant questions, noting that their trip revealed a lot about the true image of Egypt.

Pope Francis and El-Tayeb signed the Document of Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together in February 2019 in Abu Dhabi, UAE, with the aim of promoting coexistence among religions.