Francis and top imam embrace in historic Vatican meeting

yahoo.com

"Pope Francis embraced the grand imam of Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque at the Vatican on Monday in a historic encounter both sides hope will lead to greater understanding and dialogue between the two faiths.

The first Vatican meeting between the leader of the world's Catholics and the highest authority in Sunni Islam marks the culmination of a significant improvement in relations between the two faiths since Francis took office in 2013.

'Our meeting is the message,' Francis said in a brief comment at the start of his meeting with Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, shortly after he had hugged and kissed his guest, Vatican officials told a small pool of reporters covering the event.

In a statement on the trip, Al-Azhar, an institution that also comprises a prestigious seat of learning, said the two sides had agreed to convene a 'peace conference'.

A statement quoted Tayeb as telling Francis: 'We need to take a joint stance, hand in hand, to bring happiness to humanity. Divine religions were revealed to make people happy, not to cause them hardship.'...

Monday's visit was effectively the long-delayed reciprocal meeting and the Vatican said that both clerics had 'underlined the great significance of this new meeting'.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said in a statement that the pope and the imam had 'mainly addressed the common challenges faced by the authorities and faithful of the major religions of the world.'"