A papal trip to Egypt is being considered, the Vatican has confirmed.
The state-run public broadcasting company, RAI, in Italy announced on 11 March that the Pope would visit Cairo’s Al-Azhar Mosque, the leading centre for learning of Sunni Islam in May of this year.
Following the announcement Vatican spokesman Greg Burke confirmed the visit is being ‘studied’ but that no dates or itinerary has been finalised.
Pope Francis met the grand Imam of Al-Azhar in May of last year, ending a five-year freeze in relations between the Vatican and the Cairo institute.
The 1,000-year-old mosque and university center cut contacts with the Vatican in 2011 over what it said were repeated insults toward Islam from Francis's predecessor, Pope Benedict.
Al-Azhar cut ties just days after Benedict denounced what he called "a strategy of violence that has Christians as a target" following a bomb attack outside a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria that killed 23 people.
Since his election in 2013, Francis has put great emphasis on improving inter-faith relations.
"The message is the meeting," the pope told reporters after meeting Sheik Ahmed el-Tayyib, Grand Imam of Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque.
In a subsequent statement, the Vatican said the two men had discussed the problems of violence and terrorism, and the situation of Christians in the Middle East, including how best to protect them.
Pope Francis last year urged an end to what he called a genocide against Christians in the Middle East, but he has also said it is wrong to equate Islam with violence.
In recent weeks, hundreds of Christians in Egypt have fled northern Sinai, following a spate of targeted attacks on the embattled minority by an affiliate group of Islamic State.
In a video released by the Islamic State affiliate group on 20 February, the group said Christians are its ‘favourite prey’ and vowed to escalate its campaign against them.
PICTURE: Pope Francis receives Sheik Ahmed el-Tayyib, Grand Imam of Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque, during a private audience at the Vatican on 23 May, 2016
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