Pope Francis warned against religious fanaticism on Saturday, wrapping up a brief trip to Cairo in which he urged Muslim leaders to unite against violence by Islamist militants against the Middle East's ancient Christian communities.
Francis’s trip comes three weeks after Islamic State, also known as Isis, killed at least 45 people in attacks on two Egyptian churches.
The pontiff used the two-day visit to appeal for religious freedom and to accuse extremists of distorting the nature of God.
After a dense first day of meetings with political and religious leaders, the highlight on Saturday was a Mass in the Air Defence Stadium.
Vatican officials said 15,000 people gathered for the event, among them Coptic bishops and senior Anglican figures.
Crowds arrived early, waving Egyptian and Vatican flags and braving intense security measures to welcome Francis, who toured the sun-drenched stadium in a golf buggy to the sound of hymns performed by a choir and orchestra.
He blessed Egypt for being one of the earliest nations to embrace Christianity and repeated his plea for tolerance.
“True faith leads us to protect the rights of others with the same zeal and enthusiasm with which we defend our own,” he told the crowd in the heavily-guarded arena.
“The only fanaticism believers can have is that of charity. Any other fanaticism does not come from God and is not pleasing to him,” he said in his homily.
In a series of speeches during his two-day stay, the pope delivered his bluntest denunciations yet against religious violence, and has appeared to endorse Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s campaign against Islamist militants.
However, he nuanced his message by lamenting the rise of "demagogic forms of populism" - a possible reference to right-wing nationalist parties in Europe who are pushing anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim agendas.
He also defended human rights - which non-governmental organisations have accused Sisi’s administration of abusing.
“History does not forgive those who preach justice, but then practise injustice,” he said in a speech on Friday, as he shared a stage with Sisi, who applauded his words.
Security concerns
The unusual choice of venue for Saturday’s religious service highlighted the security concerns surrounding the trip.
Helicopter gunships circled the perimeter of the stadium and armoured military vehicles patrolled the streets of the Egyptian capital on Saturday.
Police in white uniforms were positioned every few metres on a Nile bridge that the pope crossed.
The 80-year-old pontiff declined the use of an armoured limousine, preferring instead to travel in an ordinary Fiat car with its window wound down so he could be closer to onlookers.
Francis had lunch with Egyptian bishops and led prayers at a Catholic seminary in the south of Cairo later on Saturday, before heading back to Italy.
The visit was the first by Francis to Cairo but the second by a Catholic pope.
Pope John Paul II came to Egypt in 2000, a year before the September 11th attacks on the US that convulsed Western relations with the Muslim world.
Egypt’s Christians comprise 10 per cent of the country’s 92 million population, making them the largest Christian community in the Middle East.
Most Egyptian Christians are Coptic Orthodox, while barely 200,000 are members of Roman Catholic churches.
While Egypt has escaped the sort of sectarian violence that has decimated ancient Christian communities in Syria and Iraq, it is under threat from Isis militants.
Isis launched a campaign in December to wipe out Egypt’s Christians and has so far carried out three church attacks that have killed more than 70 people.
The campaign presents a challenge for Sisi, who has vowed to crush Islamist extremists and is fighting a long-running insurgency in North Sinai, where Isis murders have forced hundreds of Copts to flee.
Sisi, who declared a three-month state of emergency after the Palm Sunday church attacks, appealed for more international co-operation to combat terrorism when he met Pope Francis on Friday.
Reuters