{"id":27847,"date":"2017-04-29T07:01:31","date_gmt":"2017-04-29T07:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=27847"},"modified":"2017-04-29T07:01:31","modified_gmt":"2017-04-29T07:01:31","slug":"pope-to-celebrate-mass-in-cairo-military-stadium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/pope-to-celebrate-mass-in-cairo-military-stadium.html","title":{"rendered":"Pope to celebrate Mass in Cairo military stadium"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tPope to celebrate Mass in Cairo military stadium<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>
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\n\tPope Francis celebrates a Mass in a military stadium on Saturday, the last of a two-day visit to Cairo where he has called for leaders of all faiths to reject religious violence and denounce intolerance.<\/span><\/span><\/span>
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\n\tThree weeks after Islamic State militants killed at least 45 people in attacks on two Egyptian churches, Francis has used his trip to launch a strong appeal for religion freedom and to accuse extremists of distorting the nature of God.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tGRAPHIC – Bombings of Egyptian Coptic churches: tmsnrt.rs\/2qnswgD<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t"Together let us affirm the incompatibility of violence and faith, belief and hatred," he said on Friday at an international peace conference at Al-Azhar University, the 1,000-year-old Sunni Muslim seat of learning.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBy the same token, he lamented the fact that "demagogic forms of populism are on the rise" — a possible reference to rightist parties that have flourished in Europe in recent years by promoting an anti-migrant agenda.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter a dense first day of meetings with political and religious leaders, the highlight on Saturday is a Mass in the Air Defence Stadium, which can hold 25,000 people — an unusual venue for a religious service, but one that highlights the security concerns surrounding the trip.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tMilitary Humvees patrolled largely deserted streets in the Egyptian capital on Friday, although the pope himself declined the use of an armored limousine, preferring instead to travel in a simple, blue Fiat car.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter the Mass, the pope will have lunch with Egyptian bishops and give a speech to local seminaries before heading back to Italy in the late afternoon.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tEgypt has some 9 million Christians, making up 10 percent of the total population — by far the largest Christian community in the Middle East. Most of the Christians are Copts with barely 250,000 members of Churches within the Roman Catholic fold.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 2,000-year-old faith is facing the worst persecution of its history in Egypt, with Islamic State militants threatening to wipe out local Christians and attacking their churches.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe campaign of violence has undermined Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who appealed for more international cooperation when he met Francis on Friday.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t"I affirm again that ending terrorism once and for all requires more coordination and solidarity among all powers that love peace in the international community," he said.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tsource:-http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-pope-egypt-idUSKBN17U30U<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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