CAIRO (AP)—Pope Francis has arrived in Egypt for a historic, two-day visit to show a united Christian-Muslim front against religious militancy.
Security men are posted every hundred yards or so along the 12-mile stretch between the airport and central Cairo as a precaution against overzealous demonstrations of joy—or worse.
Armored cars are stationed in front of the presidential palace, where Francis makes his first stop Friday.
The Catholic pontiff will hold a series of deeply symbolic meetings with Egypt’s religious and political leaders.
He will meet with Egypt’s president, patriarch and the “other” pope, Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and pray for victims of the recentattacks at Coptic curches.
Most importantly, he will also visit Al-Azhar, the revered 1,000-year-old seat of learning in Sunni Islam. There, he will meet privately with grand imam Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, and participate in an international peace conference Friday afternoon atthis, the world’s primary seat of Sunni Islamic learning.
He will also show solidarity and bring a message of peace to a country that has for years endured an increasingly emboldened insurgency led by a local affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group.
The pope’s Friday-Saturday visit will also lift the spirits of Egypt’s large Christian community after three suicide bombings since December hit their churches, killing at least 75 people. IS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Banners in the Zamalek neighborhood welcomed Francis, with one from a private company saying “1,000,000 workers of Sharm el Sheikh welcome the pontiff.”
Francis is brushing off security concerns to forge ahead with a two-day trip to Egypt aimed at presenting a united Christian-Muslim front that repudiates violence committed in God’s name.
