An envoy from Al-Azhar in Cairo, on 7 June raised the prospect of restoring ties with the Vatican but called on Pope Francis to take “a step forward” by declaring that Islam is a peaceful religion. “The problems that we had were not with the Vatican but with the former pope. Now the doors of Al-Azhar are open,” Mahmoud Abdel Gawad, diplomatic envoy to the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed Al-Tayyeb, told Italian daily Il Messaggero in Cairo. “Francis is a new pope. We are expecting a step forward from him. If in one of his addresses he were to declare that Islam is a peaceful religion, that Muslims are not looking for war or violence, that would be progress in itself,” he said.In 2006, then Pope Benedict XVI sparked fury across the Muslim world when he recounted a blasphemous anecdote.
AL-AZHAR WANTS POPE TO DECLARE ISLAM PEACEFUL
An envoy from Al-Azhar in Cairo, on 7 June raised the prospect of restoring ties with the Vatican but called on Pope Francis to take “a step forward” by declaring that Islam is a peaceful religion.
