Middle East Eye: Top Muslim cleric and Pope embrace in historic Vatican meeting

Pope Francis met the grand imam of Cairo's al-Azhar mosque at the Vatican on Monday in a historic encounter that was sealed with a hugely symbolic hug and exchange of kisses.

The first Vatican meeting between the leader of the world's Catholics and the highest authority in Sunni Islam marks the culmination of a significant improvement in relations between figureheads of the two faiths since Francis took office in 2013. [...]

The pope presented the imam with a copy of his recent encyclical, Laudato Si', a letter to the faithful in which he urges the world to wake up to the threat posed by climate change and also calls for a rebalancing of the economic relationship between the industrialised and developing worlds. [...]

Shuman said Tayeb would be carrying with him a message for both the West and Muslims designed to promote "true Islam and to correct misunderstandings created by extremist terrorist groups". "He encourages countries not to deal with their Muslim citizens as groups that present a threat," Shuman said."And he encourages Muslims in Western society to meld with their societies... it is a message for both sides."

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