VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Praying that God would protect Egypt from all evil, Pope Francis told the nation's people that a world torn apart by indiscriminate violence needs courageous builders of peace, dialogue and justice.
[caption id="attachment_22900" align="alignright" width="250"] Women pray during Mass April 25 at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Cairo ahead of Pope Francis' April 28-29 visit. (CNS photo/Mohamed Abd El Ghany, Reuters) See POPE-EGYPT-VIDEO April 25, 2017.[/caption]
"I hope that this visit will be an embrace of consolation and of encouragement to all Christians in the Middle East; a message of friendship and esteem to all inhabitants of Egypt and the region; a message of fraternity and reconciliation to all children of Abraham, particularly in the Islamic world," the pope said in a video message broadcast April 25, ahead of his April 28-29 trip to Cairo.
"I hope that it may also offer a valid contribution to interreligious dialogue with the Islamic world and to ecumenical dialogue with the venerated and beloved Coptic Orthodox Church," he said.
The pope thanked all those who invited him to Egypt, those who were working to make the trip possible and those "who make space for me in your hearts."
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