Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, held a phone call on Friday evening, June 6, with Pope Leo XIV of the Vatican to congratulate him on his recent election as head of the Roman Catholic Church. He also extended an official invitation to Pope Leo XIV to visit Egypt and the Coptic Church.
During the conversation, the two popes reaffirmed the deep and enduring relationship between their churches, and expressed their commitment to continuing the annual celebration of the Day of Fraternal Love, according to Bishop Moussa Ibrahim, spokesperson for the Coptic Orthodox Church.
The discussion also addressed the ongoing suffering of the people of Gaza due to the escalating war and humanitarian crisis. Both leaders emphasized the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian aid.
In addition, they praised the Egyptian government’s firm stance on preserving Saint Catherine’s Monastery—one of the world’s oldest Christian monasteries, dating back to the 6th century AD—underscoring its historical and spiritual significance.
Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected on Thursday as the first American pope, and took the name Leo XIV. Prevost, 69, is the267th pontiff after being elected by the College of Cardinals to succeed Pope Francis, who died April 21 at the age of 88.
According to Vatican news, Prevost was Born in Chicago in 1955 to parents of Spanish and Franco-Italian descent.
He spent his childhood and adolescence with his family and studied first at the Minor Seminary of the Augustinian Fathers and then at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where in 1977 he earned a Degree in Mathematics and also studied Philosophy.
