Historic Meeting of Al-Azhar Sheikh at the Vatican
Pope Francis, leader of the world’s Catholics, met with Ahmad Muhammad al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar and the highest religious authority in Egypt, at the Vatican. The first meeting between a Sunni religious leader and the leader of the world’s Catholics is considered an emphasis on reconciliation between Islam and Christianity.
The meeting between Ahmad Muhammad al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the highest religious authority in Egypt, and Pope Francis, the leader of the world’s Catholics, is the first meeting between the two religious leaders since relations between the Vatican and Egypt’s Al-Azhar University were severed.
Ahmad Muhammad al-Tayeb is scheduled to participate in this year’s conference on interfaith and intercultural dialogue to be held in Paris.
On Monday (May 23), the Pope, during a 25-minute conversation with Ahmad Muhammad al-Tayeb, said: “Today’s meeting is a message.”
The two religious leaders initially embraced each other, and the Pope gave gifts to the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar. One of these gifts was a medal engraved with an olive branch.
Since 1998, the exchange of theological information between the Vatican and Egypt’s Al-Azhar University began. However, this organized relationship was severed by Egypt in 2011. The reason for the deterioration of relations was the protest by Pope Benedict XVI, the former leader of the world’s Catholics, against the killing and violence against Coptic Christians in Egypt.
After Pope Benedict XVI’s speech in the city of Regensburg in 2010, relations between the Vatican and the Islamic world deteriorated. In this speech, Pope Benedict XVI quoted one of the Byzantine emperors from the fourteenth century, saying that the legacy of Islam contained only negative points and inhumane acts. It was after these remarks that numerous protests against the Pope began in the Islamic world.
Relations gradually improved. At the end of 2013, the first contact between researchers from Al-Azhar University and the Vatican resumed.
Ahmad Muhammad al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the highest religious authority of Egypt, is scheduled to participate on Tuesday (May 24) in the conference “Eastern and Western Cultures in Dialogue” to be held in Paris.
At this conference, Italian historian Andrea Riccardi, a major historian of Christianity and founder of the “Sant’Egidio Community,” will also participate. This Italian historian has made considerable efforts toward interfaith and civilizational dialogue worldwide.
The previous conference in this regard was held in June of last year (2015) in the city of Florence, Italy. Ahmad Muhammad al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, also attended that conference.
The highest religious authority of Egypt last year aligned the goals of Al-Azhar University with the goals of the Catholic Church and said that Pope Francis’s policy, the leader of the world’s Catholics, is in complete accordance with the goals of Al-Azhar University.
Ahmad Muhammad al-Tayeb further stated that Pope Francis is “a person who has respect for other religions in his heart and whose heart beats for the poor”.
