From:
[S]@comcast.net
Sent:
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 7:23 PM
To:
Webmaster@Adventistlaymen. Com
Subject:
Article of Interest...
We must remember to keep our eyes opened —
Dan 11:43 But he shall have power over the treasures
of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the
Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at
his steps.
Dan 11:44 But tidings out of the east and out of the
north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to
destroy, and utterly to make away many.
Dan 11:45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his
palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his
end, and none shall help him.
ZE11052306 - 2011-05-23
Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-32650?l=english
Egypt Looking to Smooth Ties With
Vatican
Foreign Minister Visits
Pontifical Council
VATICAN CITY, MAY 23, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Egypt's
minister of foreign affairs visited the Vatican last Wednesday, saying the trip
was to smooth over tensions and improve relations.
The Pontifical Council for
Interreligious Dialogue released a brief statement Saturday about the meeting.
The communiqué noted that the
president and secretary of the council, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran
and Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata, visited with Nabil Al-Arabi. The cardinal
"reiterated the esteem of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for the people
and authorities of Egypt, and the Holy See’s readiness to continue on the path
of interreligious dialogue and cooperation with Al-Azhar,
carried on regularly since 1998."
Al-Arabi's
visit comes some months after the highest authority of Sunni Islam, Ahmad at-Tayyeb, and the Cairo-based Research Council of the
University of Al-Azhar froze dialogue with the
Vatican.
The Jan. 20 announcement of a
dialogue-freeze came in protest of Benedict XVI's statements on religious
freedom following a Jan. 1 attack on a Coptic church in Alexandria. The Pope
mentioned the issue in passing in a greeting to Italian Parliamentarians in his
Jan. 9 Angelus address, and again in his Jan. 10 speech to the
Diplomatic Corps. The World Day of Peace message, from before
the Alexandria attack, also takes up the theme of religious freedom.
The great imam of Al-Azhar alleged that the papal comments were an intervention
in Egypt's internal affairs.
In addition to the Al-Azhar decision, Egypt also requested that its ambassador to
the Holy See "return to Cairo for consultations with the Egyptian foreign
ministry," the Vatican reported at the time.
This occurred before the
February resignation of President Hosni Sayyid
Mubarak.
At Wednesday's meeting,
according to the Vatican statement, the foreign minister "conveyed the
greetings of Sheikh Al-Azhar, Professor Ahmad at-Tayyeb, and expressed the desire of the Grand Imam that the
recent difficulties in the relationship with the Holy See would be
overcome."
A note from the Egypt State
Information Service reported the foreign minister's "30-minute session of
talks with Vatican Foreign Minister [Archbishop] Dominique Mamberti."
It added, "El-Arabi said his current visit to the Vatican aims to clear
the air between Egypt and the Holy See and put to rest ill feelings that have
been marring relations for quite sometime."