Comment on Pope faces balancing act in Egypt amid security fears

Pope faces balancing act in Egypt amid security fears

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is facing a religious and diplomatic balancing act as he heads to Egypt this weekend, hoping to comfort its Christian community after a spate of Islamic attacks while seeking to improve relations with Egypt's Muslim leaders. While Al-Azhar has been increasingly vocal in denouncing attacks and trying to spread an image of moderation, "it is considered by some in Egyptian society to be fundamentally incapable of reforming the religious discourse," said Michele Brignone, managing editor of Oasis, the Italian journal of Christian-Muslim dialogue. For el-Tayeb, then, the pope's visit is a timely godsend, showing him as a promoter of Christian-Muslim dialogue who not only scored a visit by Francis, leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, but also Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians. The pope's visit will also help Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi bolster his image as a global statesman fighting religious militancy and advocating for interfaith dialogue. The pope's visit, following el-Sissi's recent reception at the White House, will crown the time and effort he has invested in shaking off the international isolation he suffered after his 2013 ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president. Egypt's Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the country's 92 million people, have been strong backers of el-Sissi even after the recent attacks and amid mounting international criticism of human rights violations by his government.

 

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