HH Pope Tawadros II got interviewed by “Ajel” Saudi Arabian newspaper
And here is a part of the interview:
1- How do you see the Crown Prince’s visit to the church?
The Crown Prince’s visit was a good occasion, We welcomed His Highness with all love and affection and I was really happy for this visit, I know him only from the media but when I met him I found that he is pleasant, open-minded, cultured, visionary and good reader of history especially Egyptian history as at the end of the meeting when I said the well-known Egyptian proverb, “distance is disinclination” His Highness was aware of it, and told me that all the Egyptian proverbs are well known in the Kingdom
We talked a lot during the short meeting – for about only 20 or 30 minutes – but its impact was huge
2- What is your comment on Crown Prince invitation to you to visit Saudi Arabia?
During the meeting with Crown Prince, I told him that one of the church bishops (Anba Morcos) visited Saudi Arabia two years ago within an Egyptian communal delegation and met with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques; But recently there was no “Visa”, so His Highness invited me “an open invitation” saying : “We would like to see you in Saudi Arabia”
3- Media began to guess the visit date?
In official visits and meetings, there is a form of courtesy and this is what happened, the Crown Prince invited me orally, and when we receive an official invitation we will accept it. We are open to visit any place; but the date depends on the official invitation. I visited the UAE, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Libya, Sudan and Algeria.
4- How do you see the rapprochement between Muslims and Christians, and the role of Saudi Arabia? What is your vision for the dialogue of religions, which kicked off since the reign of King Abdullah till now?
We participate actively in the dialogues of the Cultures Center in Vienna with Prof. Faisal Bin Muammar, the church has a great role at the center and diversity is the nature of life.
The Pope explained that diversity is not disagreement, Each of us wears different style of clothes, diversity gives beauty to life and for example if we enter a garden containing plants with unified color and length, things will not seem all right. But if we enter a garden, with different plants and different colors it will bring joy to the human being.
God shows us diversity in our own hand fingers as each finger is different from the other .. Diversity is the mode of life, so I say that convergence for the sake of integration is very important, every human being when he meets another one it is consider an added value for him and necessity of life.
When people look at life from this perspective, they feel that this is a way to succeed in their lives and be rich in knowledge. This is an important point and I believe that dialogue between cultures and civilizations is something we absolutely need.
5- Is dialogue between civilizations only a cliché or something on which to build the foundations for coexistence?
Civilizations have common factors. For example, ancient Pharaonic civilization, Egyptian civilization, Chinese civilization, Christian civilization, Islamic civilization and Western civilization, all of which have common denominators. They are all human and human is the one who created all those civilizations.
It is true that there is some difference between these civilizations, but this is normal as there is even difference in the same country.
In the days of the pharaohs we spoke Pharaonic, and in the Christian era we spoke Greek and Coptic and in the Islamic era we speak Arabic. Therefore, civilizations have many common factors, which we can take it as a common ground to advance.
