Italian FM praises Egypt’s Coptic Pope for role in spreading the message of tolerance

Pope Francis (C) and Ecumenic Patriarch of the Orthodox Church Bartolomeo I (L) watch as Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II releases a dove after a meeting with other religious leaders at the Pontifical Basilica of St Nicholas in Bari, in the Apulia region in southern Italy, on July 7, 2018. (AFP)
Updated 09 July 2018
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Italian FM praises Egypt’s Coptic Pope for role in spreading the message of tolerance

Italy’s Foreign Minister Enzo Milanesi praised Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II for his role in spreading the message of tolerance, state-owned Ahram Online reported on Monday.

“There is no doubt that your role in spreading a message of love and tolerance and rejecting violence has a major impact on the stability and peaceful coexistence between all beliefs,” Milanesi told Tawadros who headed mass on Sunday in one of Italy’s largest Catholic churches, the Basilica of Saint Paul in Rome.

The Coptic Pope arrived in Italy on Friday to take part in “The day of prayers” on Saturday in Italy’s Bari that was called for by Catholic Pope Francis.

Church leaders from across the world were also attending.


Thirty four Australians released from Syrian camp holding Daesh affiliated families

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Thirty four Australians released from Syrian camp holding Daesh affiliated families

ROJ CAMP: Syrian Kurdish forces on Monday released 34 Australians from a camp ​holding families of suspected Daesh militants in northern Syria, saying they would be flown to Australia from Damascus.
Hukmiya Mohamed, a co-director of Roj camp, told Reuters that the ‌34 Australians ‌had been ​released ‌to ⁠members ​of their families ⁠who had come to Syria for the release. They were put on small buses for Damascus.
Roj camp holds more than 2,000 people from 40 ⁠different nationalities, the majority of ‌them women ‌and children.
Thousands of ​people believed ‌to be linked to Daesh militants have been held at Roj and a second camp, Al-Hol, since the militant group was driven ‌from its final territorial foothold in Syria in 2019.
Syrian ⁠government ⁠forces seized swathes of northern Syria from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in January, before agreeing a ceasefire on January 29.
The US military last week completed a mission to transfer 5,700 adult male Daesh detainees from Syria to ​Iraq.