Pope and top imam embrace in historic meeting at Vatican
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 the two faiths since Francis took office in 2013.
"Our meeting is the message," Francis told Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb as he welcomed the imam to the Vatican, officials told a small pool of reporters covering the event....