Pope Francis and Islam: Interfaith Encounters in Turkey and Egypt

This chapter explores Pope Francis visits to Turkey (2014) and Egypt (2017) through the lens of the Vatican archives. The two visits showed an ongoing stress on ‘dialogue in action’ whereby the Pope called upon Christians and Muslims to work together within society in a context of violence and violence seen as injustice. The action of praying at the main mosques in both countries remained the visual and public sign of dialogue, while the speech delivered at the Christian-Muslim conference in Cairo remains a central manifesto for all Christians working on interfaith dialogue. The physical journey out of one’s home and the spiritual journey out of oneself constitute central themes within the Pope’s leadership and personal contribution to Christian-Muslim relations.