Five years after Egypt's Al-Azhar cut off relations with the Vatican over inflammatory comments by then-Pope Benedict, Grand Imam Sheik Ahmed Muhammad Al-Tayyib met Monday with Pope Francis.
Francis has reached out to the Muslim world in a more conciliatory manner than his predecessor, defending Islam in a recent interview with French paper La Croix.
"Today, I don’t think that there is a fear of Islam as such but of ISIS and its war of conquest, which is partly drawn from Islam," the pope said. "It is true that the idea of conquest is inherent in the soul of Islam. However, it is also possible to interpret the objective in Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus sends his disciples to all nations, in terms of the same idea of conquest."
The meeting, the first between a Catholic pope and a Grand Imam of Al-Azhar since 2000, is a significant step toward repairing relations between the two religious institutions.
"Our meeting is the message," Francis said before the 30-minute meeting began, according to The Guardian .
Al-Azhar cut off dialogue with the Vatican in 2011, at the same time Egypt suspended diplomatic ties, over comments by Benedict condemning oppression of Christian Copts in the country.
"Egypt will not allow any non-Egyptian faction to interfere in its internal affairs under any pretext," Egypt's Foreign Ministry said at the time, according to Ahram Online . "The Coptic question is specifically an internal Egyptian affair."
According to a Vatican spokesman, Francis did discuss the protection of Christians in the Middle East with Tayyib during Monday's meeting.