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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 Feb. - 1 March 2000 Issue No. 470 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 Feb. - 1 March 2000 Issue No. 470
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Lucas Cranach the Elder's Rest on the Flight to Egypt depicts one of the most popular subjects of European renaissance painting. Probably completed in 1504, it shows the Holy Family in a landscape Pope John Paul II will be hard pressed to recognise as he follows in their footsteps
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Focus Heritage Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Following the pilgrim's road
Pope John Paul II visited Egypt in 1963 when he was Archbishop of Poland, but this week's visit will be his first to Egypt as Pope. As such, it carries a great deal of significance on the national, regional, and international levels.The Pope's original schedule would have taken him to Iraq first. However, the US strongly opposed that visit and a diplomatic crisis between the Holy See and Washington was only averted after negotiations between the Vatican and Iraqi representatives were abandoned. But Vatican sources say that the Pope fully intends to visit Iraq later on this year even though the date of the pilgrimage has not yet been set.
The US was concerned lest the inevitable handshake between the Pope and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would lend acknowledgment of the latter's regime, particularly as the Pope has on several occasions criticised the sanctions imposed on Iraq, arguing that they only hurt innocent civilians.
Vatican officials in Rome stress that the Pope's millennium pilgrimages, including this week's trip to Egypt, are purely religious ones and of little political significance. The same sentiment was reiterated at a press conference at the St Carlos Roman Catholic Church in the Cairo district of Heliopolis earlier this week, where Bishop Yohanna Golta (see profile, p.21) stressed the fact that the Pope will not be holding any press conferences during his trip.
The Pope's visit to Egypt, a predominantly Muslim country whose Christian community is largely Coptic Orthodox, and not Catholic, represents an attempt to "end centuries of misunderstanding between East and West," Golta said. "The Pope aims at deepening relations between Muslims and Christians, as well as between the Catholic and Orthodox churches."
The Vatican launched its official policy of seeking contacts with other faiths in 1963 and the current Pope has been particularly active in this domain. He has already visited a number of other predominantly Muslim countries including Indonesia, Morocco, Tunisia and Lebanon. According to Hussein El-Sadr, the Egyptian ambassador to the Holy See, the Vatican "has adopted an approach of openness towards other religions and different Christian churches. There is no doubt that Papal visits, including this visit to Egypt, contribute to consolidating this approach".
The Pope will be welcomed at Cairo airport at 2pm today by President Hosni Mubarak, accompanied by Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, Sheikh of Al-Azhar, and Pope Shenouda III. Patriarch Astafanous II, head of the Catholic Church in Egypt, along with the heads of the Catholic churches of Lebanon, Iraq and Jerusalem, will also be present. Mubarak will then meet privately with the Pope at the airport's presidential VIP lounge.
Owing to poor health the Pope will not be staying at Qobba palace, which has many stairs, but will instead stay at the Vatican Embassy in Zamalek. The rest of his schedule today includes courtesy visits to Pope Shenouda at the Abbasiya cathedral, and Sheikh Tantawi at Al-Azhar.
On Friday morning the Pope will conduct mass at Cairo's Covered Stadium in Nasr City for about 18,000 worshippers. The mass will be in French and choirs from six different churches will participate. Later on the same day there will be an ecumenical prayer at the largest Catholic church in Egypt, also in Nasr City.
On Saturday the Pope will go to the foot of Mount Sinai, where Moses is believed to have received the Ten Commandments and where the famous St Catherine Monastery is located.
Bishop Golta also expressed a wish for the Pope to "find 15 minutes to go see the Pyramids and the Sphinx".
While Egypt will be the Pope's only stop this month, he is due to visit Jordan, the Palestinian-controlled territories and Israel in March. While the 79-year-old pope does not want his trips to the Middle East to be linked to a political agenda, host countries cannot ignore the Holy See's position on certain crucial political issues. Only last week, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat met with the Pope for the ninth time. This time Arafat was at the Vatican for the signing of a historic agreement between the Holy See and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation that defines diplomatic relations between the two sides.
"An unprecedented event," commented Nimr Hamad, the Palestinian ambassador to Rome. The two signatories also reiterated in the same agreement their shared conviction that unilateral decisions and actions altering the specific character and status of Jerusalem are morally and legally unacceptable. The Holy See has never recognised Israel's claim to Jerusalem and has expressed sympathy for Palestinian statehood, a fact that has probably prevented the Pope from making previous trips to Israel.
Samia Nkrumah in Rome;
Tarek Atia in Cairo
