Egypt president makes rare visit to Coptic Pope

January 06, 2014 - Egypt's interim president on Sunday made a rare visit to the Coptic Pope ahead of Orthodox Christmas on Tuesday, underlining efforts by the military-backed government to project an image of inclusion ahead of a crucial referendum later this month. The highly symbolic visit to Pope Tawadros II at the papal seat at Cairo's St. Mark's Cathedral by Adly Mansour was the first such visit since socialist leader Gamal Abdel-Nasser attended the cathedral's consecration ceremony more than 40 years ago. Mansour's visit underlined the secular outlook of the military-installed government and signals a dramatic departure from the sectarian rhetoric of some of the more radical allies of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi during his one year in power and the tension and distrust that defined their relations with Christians. Morsi, who had consistently maintained that he was president for all Egyptians, was ousted by a popularly backed coup on July 3 and is now on trial on charges that carry the death sentence. A draft constitution Egyptians will vote on later this month in a nationwide referendum enshrines equality between all Egyptians and instructs the next parliament to legislate a new law that will facilitate the construction and upkeep of churches. Egypt's Christians account for some 10 percent of the nation's 90 million people. They are mostly members of the Orthodox church, one of Christendom's oldest. They long have complained of discrimination by the nation's Muslim majority. (Source:AP)