COURTESY VISITS TO SHENOUDA III AND GRAND SHEIKH TANTAWI

VATICAN CITY, FEB 24, 2000 (VIS) - Following the welcome ceremony at Cairo's international airport today and the meeting with Hosni Mubarak, president of the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Pope travelled to the apostolic nunciature where he spent the afternoon.

At 6 p.m., he made a courtesy call on His Holiness Shenouda III, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, at his Cairo residence, where, after a brief visit, they prayed together.

John Paul II then went to the residence of Imam Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar. Al-Azhar Mosque-University is Sunni Islam's most prestigious center for the teaching of theology and religious sciences. It is the oldest Islamic university in the world, having been founded at the end of the tenth century.

Following the courtesy visits, the Holy Father returned to the apostolic nunciature, where he dined and spent the night.

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