[ti:Pope Francis to Meet with Christian, Muslim Leaders in Egypt+++教宗方济各将要会见埃及基督教和穆斯林领导人] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:01.04]Pope Francis is making final preparations for a trip to Egypt. [00:07.20]His visit begins on Friday. [00:10.52]It comes just weeks after deadly attacks against the country's Coptic Christian minority. [00:19.72]This will be the second time a leader of the Roman Catholic Church [00:25.16]has traveled to Egypt, the most populous Arab country. [00:30.76]Pope John Paul II visited Cairo in 2000. [00:37.16]Earlier this month, two terror attacks targeted Coptic churches in Alexandria, [00:45.20]Egypt's second largest city, and the northern city of Tanta. [00:51.40]More than 40 people were killed and more than 100 others were injured. [00:58.11]The attackers exploded bombs as they stood among people [01:03.84]gathered for prayers at religious services. [01:09.16]The bombings took place on the Christian observance of Palm Sunday. [01:16.76]They were the latest in a series of attacks against Egyptian Christians. [01:23.40]Recently, Islamic militants carried out an attack on Christians in El Arish, [01:31.17]a town in the northern Sinai Peninsula. [01:36.24]The violence caused some Christian families to leave the area. [01:43.72]Egyptian editor and publisher Hisham Kassem [01:48.68]spoke to VOA about Pope Francis' visit. [01:54.04]He said the trip was planned before the recent suicide bombings. [02:01.60]Kassem noted that it takes place at a time when [02:06.44]"Christians are facing the brunt of terror attacks [02:11.16]and their security in the country is in jeopardy." [02:16.72]Pope Francis is expected to meet with Egypt's President, Abdel Fattah al Sisi. [02:24.88]The pope will also meet with religious leaders, including the head of Egypt's [02:31.80]Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Tawadros II. [02:38.32]Francis and Tawadros will then meet with Egypt's Grand Imam, [02:44.12]Sheikh Ahmed al Tayeb, at al Azhar University. [02:51.00]The Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, [02:56.40]is also expected to attend the gathering. [03:00.76]A papal spokesman told Italian media that Pope Francis [03:07.08]would not be using an armored vehicle because of concerns [03:12.44]that it would keep him from meeting the Egyptian people. [03:17.56]A spokesman for the Catholic part of Egypt's main Coptic Orthodox church [03:23.68]discussed the visit with local media. [03:27.72]He said Egyptian Christians were "expecting a message of peace and solidarity [03:35.56][as well as] a message of hope." [03:40.52]Egypt has the largest Christian population of any Arab country. [03:46.68]About 10 percent of Egypt's 90 million people are said to be Christian. [03:54.72]Egyptian political sociologist Said Sadek told VOA [04:01.44]that the papal visit will be good for Christians and the government. [04:07.68]He said it "will show the world that Egypt is stable." [04:13.12]He said this would help the country's travel industry. [04:19.40]The effect of the attacks on Coptic Christians has been to increase distrust. [04:27.12]Both the president and Prime Minister Sherif Ismail [04:32.08]have accused other countries in the area of involvement in the attacks. [04:38.88]However, they would not name those countries. [04:44.12]Arab media reported that the Islamic State group [04:48.64]claimed responsibility for the bombings at the Coptic churches. [04:55.24]Egyptian government media said terrorists in the Sinai have ties [05:02.44]to the Muslim Brotherhood group and the Palestinian group Hamas. [05:08.91]They have stated that both groups have support from several countries in the area. [05:19.08]I'm Mario Ritter. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM