CAIRO (CWNews.com) - A spokesman for Egypt's bishops said today that Pope John Paul II will not address recent clashes between Christians and Muslims in the country because it is a local issue.
"There will be no chance for dialogue on al-Kosheh because this is a local Egyptian problem and the Pope does not interfere in domestic issues," Yohanna Qulta, spokesman for the Catholic Church in Egypt, told a news conference. In January, 19 Christians and two Muslims were killed in clashes started by a dispute between a Christian shopkeeper and a Muslim patron in the village of al-Kosheh in souther Egypt.
"The Vatican has said this is purely a spiritual journey to make a pilgrimage to Mount Sinai where Moses received the revelation and the Ten Commandments," Qulta said. "It has no political motivation."
During the three-day visit starting Thursday, the Holy Father will meet the Catholic bishops of Egypt, Syrian, Lebanon, and Jerusalem; the leader of the world's Sunni Muslims, Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawy of al-Azhar; and Pope Shenouda, leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and Greek Orthodox leaders.
Qulta said the papal trip will be the first time in the modern era that a pope has visited Egypt. He said the trip would be "an opportunity to end centuries of misunderstanding between East and West."
Catholic World News Service - Daily News Briefs