Saudi Crown Prince visits St. Mark Cathedral and meets HH Pope Tawadros II

HH Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patrirch of the see of St. Mark, received, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, at Saint Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo’s Abbasiya neighborhood.

This marks the first visit of its kind by a senior Saudi official to the seat of the Coptic Orthodox patriarchate. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz had previously met with Pope Tawadros during a visit to Cairo in 2016.

Pope Tawadros and Prince Mohammed tackled bilateral ties between Saudi Arabia and Egypt, stressing the role of different religions and cultures in bolstering tolerance and shunning violence, extremism and terrorism.

Prince Mohammed hailed the role of Copts at their non violence in ensuring Egypt’s stability and in supporting Arab and Muslim causes.

For his part, Pope Tawadros welcomed the Saudi Crown Prince “in his second home in Egypt.”

He also praised Saudi Arabia for the development it is undergoing, saying that it will “help us defeat violence and terrorism that has plagued our region.”

His Holiness revealed that Prince Mohammed had invited him to pay a visit to the Kingdom.

The Saudi royal’s visit to the Coptic cathedral was widely welcomed among Coptic and political circles in Egypt.

Father Boulos Halim, official spokesman of the church, said: “The meeting demonstrates the values of tolerance and love that bind Saudi Arabia and Egypt.”

He highlighted its significance in the confrontation against extremism in the region.