Today (Saturday), H.H. Pope Tawadros II received His Beatitude Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, Archbishop of Marseille for the Catholic Church, at the Papal Residence in Cairo. He was accompanied by His Beatitude Patriarch Anba Ibrahim Ishak, Patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church, and His Grace Metropolitan Tomas Adly, Metropolitan of Giza and Fayoum for the Coptic Catholics.

His Holiness welcomed his guests and expressed his wishes for a pleasant visit to Egypt for His Beatitude the Cardinal. He also inquired about the health condition of His Holiness Pope Francis, the Pope of the Vatican.

H.H. Pope Tawadros invited the Archbishop of Marseille to visit the ancient Coptic monasteries, especially the Monastery of Saint Anthony in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, which was founded by Saint Anthony, the father of monasticism worldwide.

The discussion also touched on the celebration of the Feast of the Resurrection, which will be celebrated on the same day (April 20th) this year by the entire Christian world. Normally, the date of the Feast of Resurrection varies depending on the calendar followed by each Church.

His Holiness pointed out that the issue of determining the date of the Feast of Resurrection was settled at the Council of Nicaea, which assigned the See of Alexandria the responsibility of determining its date each year due to the precision of the Coptic calculation system. Consequently, the Pope of Alexandria would announce the date annually through a Paschal letter sent to all Churches.

The meeting was attended by Monk Fr. Emmanuel Al-Muharraqy, Director of the Papal Office, and Dr. Girgis Saleh, Honorary Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches, and Deacon Joseph Reda, Deacon of His Holiness.

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