Pope Travels To Egypt

The Pope's perilous mission to Egypt

By Daniel Burke, CNN Religion Editor

Updated 10:32 AM ET, Thu April 27, 2017

"...The Pope will have a delicate task in that address: Christians will expect him to clearly condemn Islamic extremism; Muslims will expect him to avoid indicting Islam itself.

El-Tayeb and other Muslim leaders have been keen to point out that Christians aren't the only victims of terrorism. Many Muslims suffer as well. Al-Azhar broke off dialogue with the Vatican in 2011 after taking offense at former Pope Benedict XVI's condemnation of a church bombing in which 21 Coptic Christians died.

"It was taken by al-Azhar as an unwarranted intrusion into Egyptian affairs and a misapprehending of the rights of Christians in Egypt," Reynolds said.

Still, many Christians may expect Francis to raise the issue of their rights in Muslim-majority countries, where they are often treated as second-class citizens.

The Egyptian government, for example, imposes legal penalties on Muslim-born citizens who convert, and does not recognize their new religious identities, according to the US State Department."

See also:

Vatican to hold Islamic prayers for the first time in history