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by Thomas D. Williams,
Ph.D.26 Apr 2017
“Our
world is torn by blind violence, a violence that has also struck the heart of
your beloved land,” Francis said, referring to the recent twin suicide bombings
by Islamic terrorists in Christian churches on Palm Sunday.
The
attacks killed 49 people and left more than 100 injured, and have been defined
as “an attack on Christians simply because they are Christians.”
The
Palm Sunday bombings followed an attack
in December by a jihadist suicide bomber who blew himself up in a packed Cairo
church, killing 29 people.
Egypt’s
Christians are reportedly looking forward to the Pope’s arrival on Friday,
seeing his two-day visit as a show of support for their minority community. It
will be the pontiff’s first visit to Egypt, the most populous Arab nation with
a population that is 90 percent Muslim.
As
well as offering support for persecuted Christians, the Pope said he hopes his
visit will also be “a message of friendship and respect for all the inhabitants
of Egypt and the region, and a message of brotherhood and reconciliation with
all the children of Abraham, particularly the Muslim world, in which Egypt
holds so important a place.”
“I
would also hope that my visit will make a fruitful contribution to
interreligious dialogue with the followers of Islam and to ecumenical dialogue
with the venerable and beloved Coptic Orthodox Church,” he said.
Peppering
his words with occasional expressions in Arabic, the Pope spoke of Egypt as
“the cradle of civilization, the gift of the Nile, the land of sun and
hospitality, the land where Patriarchs and Prophets lived, and where God,
Benevolent and Merciful, the Almighty and One God, made his voice heard.”
He
also underscored the importance of Egypt for Christianity, since Jesus lived
there with his parents for an extended period of time when he was a small boy.
I am truly happy to be coming to the country that, “over two thousand years
ago, gave refuge and hospitality to the Holy Family as they fled the threats of
King Herod. I am honoured to visit the land visited by the Holy Family!”
he said.
The
Pope said that in the face of violence, the world “needs peace, love and
mercy.”
“It
needs peacemakers, people who are free and who set others free, men and women
of courage who can learn from the past in order to build the future, free of
every form of prejudice. Our world needs people who can build bridges of
peace, dialogue, fraternity, justice and humanity,” he said.
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