In Pics: Vatican ORP visits Pyramids, Sphinx Friday

CAIRO – 19 December 2017: The Vatican’s delegation of the Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi (ORP), which is responsible for pilgrimages to the Vatican, visited the Pyramids and Sphinx sites on Friday. The delegation was chaired by the head of ORP, Monsignor Remo Chiavarini. They also paid a visit to the Egyptian Museum.

The Vatican’s delegation, which is currently visiting Egypt for several days to recognize places that would be included in the pilgrimage program in Egypt, met Thursday with Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark and Egypt’s Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayeb.

Pope Tawadros and Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb underscored the support and efforts exerted by the Ministry of Tourism to revive the Holy Family's journey, which was blessed by the Vatican and Pope Francis.


Egypt’s top religious leaders, Tawadros and Tayeb, also stressed the good relations between the Catholic Church in the Vatican and the Egyptian Coptic Church.

Earlier this month, Tourism Minister Yehia Rashid paid a three-day visit to Vatican City, during which he met with Roman Catholic Pope Francis, who blessed the Holy Family journey in Egypt as an official Christian pilgrimage.


After Pope Francis’s decision to bless the Holy Family journey in Egypt, they agreed to organize the first official Christian pilgrimage in May 2018.