Egypt's top Muslim leader has again signalled his condemnation of Islamist terrorism and committed to helping fight violence motivated by religion.
The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed Muhammad al-Tayeb, met Pope Francis at the Vatican during a during a conference organised by the St Egidio community there.
The meeting is the second time in two years he has been to the Vatican. His first, in May 2016, marked a warming of relations after five years of suspended dialogue between Al-Azhar and the Holy See, according to Vatican Radio. This second encounter follows a visit by Pope Francis to Cairo where he attended an international peace conference at Al-Azhar.
Al-Tayeb said after his meeting with the Pope that Islam was facing 'a war against itself' and said Muslims too were 'victims of terrorism'.
'It is a cancer which has metastasised to different parts of the world,' he said according to AFP, adding that Al-Azhar, Egypt's highest institution of Sunni Islam, was 'offering its resources and a greater contribution for a permanent collaboration aimed at finding solutions to terrorism'.
He and Francis, he said, had 'discussed several issues tormenting the world and we sought to...find ways together to reduce the suffering of the poor and the unfortunate'.
He added: 'I wish to state my conviction of the necessity for a dialogue between religions, between the wise, or we risk falling back into periods of violence and darkness.
'The last century witnessed two world wars which killed more than 70 million people and those that followed quickly showed how absurd they were and not a drop of blood should have been spilt.'
