{"id":13094,"date":"2016-02-25T07:04:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T07:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/pope-francis-wants-more-dialogue-with-islam-is-egypt-the-key-11469\/"},"modified":"2016-02-25T07:04:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-25T07:04:00","slug":"pope-francis-wants-more-dialogue-with-islam-is-egypt-the-key","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/02\/pope-francis-wants-more-dialogue-with-islam-is-egypt-the-key\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis wants more dialogue with Islam. Is Egypt the key?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Vatican City, Feb 25, 2016 \/ 12:04 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- For Pope Francis, dialogue with Islam is a core issue. He recently voiced hopes to meet a major Sunni leader: the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Mosque, Ahmed el-Tayeb.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to meet him. I know that he would like it,\u201d the Pope said during his Feb. 18 in-flight press conference.<\/p>\n

The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, headed by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, is reaching out to al-Azhar Mosque<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are looking for the way, always through Cardinal Tauran because it is the path, but we will achieve it,\u201d Pope Francis said on his flight from Mexico to Italy.<\/p>\n

The al-Azhar Mosque and its companion university are the most prominent institutions of Sunni Islam. Both institutions were founded in the 10th century. In 1961, the university added non-religious curricula.<\/p>\n

el-Tayeb has been imam of the al-Azhar Mosque since his 2010 election. He was elected rector of the university in 2003. He is considered a moderate Sunni who has worked to prevent Islamic radicalization.<\/p>\n

Father Miguel Ayuso Guixot, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, visited al-Azhar on Feb. 16 and met with the mosque\u2019s deputy imam, Abbas Shuman. The Holy See Press Office said the two had a \u201ccordial meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this meeting, the priest invited the Grand Imam to meet with the Pope at the Vatican.<\/p>\n

Among the many reasons this Feb. 16 meeting is noteworthy: al-Azhar had broken relations with the Vatican in 2011.<\/p>\n

On Jan. 1 of that year, a major bombing took place in Alexandria. The attack on Coptic Christians killed 23 people.
\n\u00a0
\nIn an immediate reaction, Benedict XVI labeled the attacks as \u201cterrorism\u201d that \u201cbrutally affected worshippers.\u201d He characterized the attacks as part of a \u201cstrategy of violence\u201d against Christians. He reiterated his concerns in his New Year\u2019s speech to the corps of diplomats accredited to the Holy See. He asked protection for religious minorities.
\n\u00a0
\nel-Tayeb reacted negatively to these two statements. He blamed Benedict for \u201cinterference\u201d in Egyptian internal affairs, which might result in a \u201cnegative political reaction\u201d in the East and in Egypt.
\n\u00a0
\nEver since, the Vatican and al-Azhar had no official ties for dialogue. However, Mahmoud Azab, a representative of the Grand Imam, took part in the Vatican launch of the Global Freedom Network, an initiative to counter human trafficking.
\n\u00a0
\nRecently, el-Tayeb has launched a multilingual satellite television broadcast. He has begun to revise education curricula in order to advance interreligious dialogue.<\/p>\n

The dialogue with Islam is so important to Pope Francis that he elevated Fr. Ayuso to the rank of bishop. The appointment was announced Jan. 29. The bishop-designate is an expert in Islam and served as a professor in Cairo. After his ordination, his new rank will give him a major impact in his work to strengthen connections with the Islamic world, a commitment crucial to the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.<\/p>\n

Cardinal Tauran and Fr. Ayuso had a private audience with Pope Francis Feb. 20. At this meeting they reported on the cardinal\u2019s trip to Doha, the Qatari capital.
\n\u00a0
\nWhile Fr. Ayuso was in Cairo, Cardinal Tauran traveled to Qatar. There, he gave a speech at a two-day conference on the topic \u201cSpiritual and Intellectual Security in Light of Religious Doctrines.\u201d The conference was sponsored by the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue.
\n\u00a0
\nIn his remarks, Cardinal Tauran stressed that dialogue among religions is needed \u201cnow more than ever.\u201d He asked his audience to pay greater attention towards \u201cthe message they convey to the youth.\u201d He encouraged them to be \u201cobjective and respectful of legitimate differences\u201d in ethnicity, religion, language, culture, and other categories.<\/p>\n

As some work to secure the visit of al-Azhar\u2019s Grand Imam to the Vatican, Pope Francis is also working to improve dialogue with Islam in Italy. He has accepted an invitation to visit the Mosque of Rome. The visit will likely take place April 10, according to a source involved in an Islamic association in Italy.
\n\u00a0
\nThe Holy See is not ignoring dialogue with Shia Islam. Iran\u2019s president Hassan Rouhani visited the Vatican Jan. 26. Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, gave a lecture in Qom, Iran on Feb. 6. The cardinal said that the social teaching of the Church is the key to fostering interreligious dialogue.
\n\u00a0
\nQom is another center of Islamic-Christian dialogue. For Shia Muslims, Qom is a holy city. The city receives some 15 million pilgrims per year. They visit and worship at the shrine where Fatima Masumeh, the sister of Islam\u2019s eighth imam, is buried.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s University of Religions and Denominations has developed the idea to translate the Catechism of the Catholic Church into the Farsi language.
\n\u00a0
\nQom is imbued with spirituality. The city has more than 100 study centers and 50-60,000 students of the Quran and Islam. About 2,000 of these students also study Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism<\/a> and Hinduism.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vatican City, Feb 25, 2016 \/ 12:04 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- For Pope Francis, dialogue with Islam is a core issue. He recently voiced hopes to meet a major Sunni leader: the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Mosque, Ahmed el-Tayeb.<\/p>\n

“I want to meet him. I know …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vatican"],"yoast_head":"\nPope Francis wants more dialogue with Islam. Is Egypt the key?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vatican City, Feb 25, 2016 \/ 12:04 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- For Pope Francis, dialogue with Islam is a core issue. He recently voiced hopes to meet a major Sunni leader: the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Mosque, Ahmed el-Tayeb. “I want to meet him. I know ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/02\/pope-francis-wants-more-dialogue-with-islam-is-egypt-the-key\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope Francis wants more dialogue with Islam. Is Egypt the key?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vatican City, Feb 25, 2016 \/ 12:04 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- For Pope Francis, dialogue with Islam is a core issue. He recently voiced hopes to meet a major Sunni leader: the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Mosque, Ahmed el-Tayeb. “I want to meet him. I know ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/02\/pope-francis-wants-more-dialogue-with-islam-is-egypt-the-key\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-25T07:04:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/al_Azhar_Mosque_By_Romel_Jacinto_via_Flickr_CC_BY_NC_ND_20_CNA.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/02\/pope-francis-wants-more-dialogue-with-islam-is-egypt-the-key\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/02\/pope-francis-wants-more-dialogue-with-islam-is-egypt-the-key\/\",\"name\":\"Pope Francis wants more dialogue with Islam. Is Egypt the key?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-25T07:04:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-02-25T07:04:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Vatican City, Feb 25, 2016 \/ 12:04 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- For Pope Francis, dialogue with Islam is a core issue. He recently voiced hopes to meet a major Sunni leader: the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Mosque, Ahmed el-Tayeb. “I want to meet him. I know ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/02\/pope-francis-wants-more-dialogue-with-islam-is-egypt-the-key\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/02\/pope-francis-wants-more-dialogue-with-islam-is-egypt-the-key\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/02\/pope-francis-wants-more-dialogue-with-islam-is-egypt-the-key\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pope Francis wants more dialogue with Islam. Is Egypt the key?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pope Francis wants more dialogue with Islam. Is Egypt the key?","description":"Vatican City, Feb 25, 2016 \/ 12:04 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- For Pope Francis, dialogue with Islam is a core issue. He recently voiced hopes to meet a major Sunni leader: the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Mosque, Ahmed el-Tayeb. “I want to meet him. I know ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/02\/pope-francis-wants-more-dialogue-with-islam-is-egypt-the-key\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pope Francis wants more dialogue with Islam. Is Egypt the key?","og_description":"Vatican City, Feb 25, 2016 \/ 12:04 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- For Pope Francis, dialogue with Islam is a core issue. He recently voiced hopes to meet a major Sunni leader: the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Mosque, Ahmed el-Tayeb. “I want to meet him. I know ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/02\/pope-francis-wants-more-dialogue-with-islam-is-egypt-the-key\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2016-02-25T07:04:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/al_Azhar_Mosque_By_Romel_Jacinto_via_Flickr_CC_BY_NC_ND_20_CNA.jpg"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/02\/pope-francis-wants-more-dialogue-with-islam-is-egypt-the-key\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/02\/pope-francis-wants-more-dialogue-with-islam-is-egypt-the-key\/","name":"Pope Francis wants more dialogue with Islam. Is Egypt the key?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-02-25T07:04:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-02-25T07:04:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Vatican City, Feb 25, 2016 \/ 12:04 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- For Pope Francis, dialogue with Islam is a core issue. He recently voiced hopes to meet a major Sunni leader: the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Mosque, Ahmed el-Tayeb. “I want to meet him. I know ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/02\/pope-francis-wants-more-dialogue-with-islam-is-egypt-the-key\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/02\/pope-francis-wants-more-dialogue-with-islam-is-egypt-the-key\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/02\/pope-francis-wants-more-dialogue-with-islam-is-egypt-the-key\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pope Francis wants more dialogue with Islam. Is Egypt the key?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13094\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}