Dearest Brothers and Sisters!
1. I thank the Lord who, after the special commemoration of Abraham held
in the Paul VI Auditorium last Wednesday, enabled me to make these days
of planned pilgrimage to Egypt, a hospitable land that gave refuge to
the Holy Family fleeing from Herod, which received the Gospel in
apostolic times and is heir of a very ancient civilization. The high
point of this pilgrimage was the ascent to Mount Sinai.
I am grateful to President Mubarak and to the Egyptian authorities, to
the organizers and to those who in different ways contributed to my
making this visit in Moses' footsteps. I renew my thanks to the Coptic
Orthodox Church, with whose Patriarch, His Holiness Shenouda III, I had
a cordial discussion; as well as Egumeno Damianos and the Greek-Orthodox
monks, for their hospitality near Mount Sinai.
2. I send cordial greetings and appreciation to the fervent Catholic
community, with whom on Friday I was able to celebrate a solemn Holy
Mass in the Cairo Sports Palace, in which all the Churches present in
Egypt took part: the Coptic, Latin, Maronite, Greek, Armenian, Syrian
and Chaldean.
A significant ecumenical meeting was later held in the new Cathedral,
consecrated last Christmas, with representatives and faithful of the
Churches and ecclesial community present in Egypt. I am pleased to
emphasize how profitable the dialogue with the Coptic Orthodox Church
was, and I pray the Lord that he will render it ever richer in fruits of
mutual understanding and collaboration.
I also want to thank Grand Sheikh Sayed Tantawi of Al-Azhar, head of the
Muslim community to which the greater part of the population belongs,
for our courteous meeting.
Now my thoughts turn to the central part of my pilgrimage, the most
ancient Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. There, in a simple
but touching ceremony, I was able to commemorate both the moment in
which God, speaking from the burning bush, revealed his name "I am" to
Moses, and where he stipulated the Covenant with the People, founded on
the Decalogue. The fundamental precepts of the Natural Law are reflected
in the Ten Commandments. The Decalogue points out the way for a fully
human life. Outside of it there is no future of serenity and peace for
persons, families, or nations.
3. My eyes now turn to the Holy Land, the land of Jesus Christ, where,
God willing, I will go during the last week of the month of March.
Thanking all who accompanied me with prayer and continue to be near me
with their spiritual support, I invoke the Mother of the Redeemer so
that my visit to places in which 2000 years ago the Word of God "pitched
his tent" among men, may redound to the benefit of the whole Church and
the entire world.
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