Muslims-Catholics against war, Al-Azhar

(ANSA) - Vatican City, May 24 - Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of al-Azhar, Cairo, told Vatican media on Tuesday he hoped Muslims and Christian could work together against war, poverty, ignorance and disease.
    Speaking one day after an historic meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, el-Tayeb renewed his "thanks, appreciation and hope to work together, Muslims and Christians, Al-Azhar and the Vatican, to improve human beings wherever they are, regardless of their religion and belief, and save them from the crises of destructive wars, poverty, ignorance and sickness".
    The imam of al-Azhar, considered by some as the highest authority in Sunni Islam, was the first ever to visit the Vatican.
    Pope John Paul II in 2000 became the first pontiff to visit Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's most respected seat of learning.
    "Al-Azhar has a dialogue, or better a commission for inter-religious dialogue, with the Vatican which was suspended under precise circumstances, but now that such circumstances don't exist anymore, we resume the path of dialogue and hope it will be better than before", he also said.
    Dialogue stalled and was eventually suspended in 2011 after remarks made by now-retired Pope Benedict XVI, which Al-Azhar officials and millions of Muslims interpreted as linking Islam to violence.
    Vatican officials at the time said the then-pontiff had been quoting a 14th-century Byzantine text and that his words were taken out of context and misinterpreted.
    Pope Francis and el-Tayeb met for 25 minutes at the Vatican on Monday, talking about their shared commitment to peace and rejection of terrorism during a "very cordial meeting", said Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi.