On Monday morning, the world woke to news that Pope Francis had passed away the day after Easter at the age of 88. In recent months his health had deteriorated significantly. In his final public address read on his behalf in St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday, he meditated on the resurrection of Christ and called for peace around the world, including a ceasefire in Gaza. Born in Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio joined the Jesuit order in 1960 and served as bishop and archbishop of Buenos Aires from 1992-2013. He was made a cardinal by John Paul II in 2001 and then elected to the papacy in 2013 at the age of 76. He chose the name Francis in honor of Francis of Assisi (1181-1286), who was known for his simple lifestyle and care for the poor. Although it is sometimes noted that his grandparents migrated from Italy to Argentina in the 1920s, it remains true that Pope Francis was the first non-European pope in over a thousand years. 

As tributes and interpretations of his legacy pour in, Dialogue Across Borders wanted to offer some initial resources for approaching his legacy as it relates to Egypt, the Middle East, and Christian-Muslim relations. In April 2017, Pope Francis made an official visit to Egypt that included visits with President al-Sīsī, the Grand Imām, Pope Tawāḍrūs II, and other leaders. The visit included a celebration of the Divine Mass in a Cairo stadium that was attended by some 15,000 Egyptian Catholics.

(Pope Francis celebrated Mass at the packed Air Defense Stadium in Cairo on April 29, 2017.) 

In terms of Christian-Muslim relations, there is no question that the Document on Human Fraternity drafted and signed together with al-Azhar Grand Imām Aḥmed al-Ṭayyeb in 2019 remains his most distinctive contribution. In some respects, the document is hard to categorize as it touches on a number of different topics. It covers some familiar ground about dialogue, coexistence, and the dangers of extremism, but it also commends a positive vision on the importance of religion for the future of humanity. One result of this initiative was the establishment of the Higher Committee on Human Fraternity and the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi. 

In recent days, our staff and interns have been tracking some of the most significant responses in and around the region, including the statements of the Grand Imam. Our Swiss intern, Joëlle Mayorez, has focused on responses in the Francophone world, including this statement from the Grand Mosque in Paris. For Italian readers, we also want to draw your attention to this essay from our friends at Fondazione Oasis in Milan on the legacy of Pope Francis in Christian-Muslim relations.

We have also reached out to friends in our dialogue network and asked for their thoughts at the present moment. We are grateful for their contributions which you can find below. We will remember Pope Francis with fondness and gratitude for many reasons, but one of them is certainly that in a world that is often cruel and dehumanizing, he called us again and again to the path of mercy.

Matthew Anderson

Executive Editor - Dialogue Across Borders

Director - The Center for Arab-West Understanding

Dialogue Across Borders (Brill)

CAWU Instagram

April 23, 2025

Statements from DAB Friends and Partners on the Legacy of Pope Francis

With deep sorrow and heartfelt grief, I have received the news of the death of Pope Francis. He was a sincere voice of wisdom, compassion, courage and acceptance of his fellow brothers in humanity. He played an unforgettable role in resuming dialogue with Al-Azhar after it was suspended for many years. As a general coordinator of the Al-Azhar Center for Interfaith Dialogue, I was an eyewitness to the efforts exerted by the Pope to build bridges of mutual understanding, foster interfaith harmony, and develop strong relations with people of different religions. On Feb. 8, 2015, I participated in a high-level meeting in Jordan representing the Grand Imam Prof. Ahmed al-Tayyeb. The meeting was under the auspices of King Abdullah and Prince Charles. Cardinal Touran was present and he asked me to convey a message from the Pope to the Grand Imam in which he expressed his sorrow for the cease of dialogue between the two great institutions al-Azhar and the Vatican. Dialogue was resumed in 2016 and it was crowned with an everlasting friendship between the two symbols of Islam and Christianity: Francis and al-Tayyeb.

Throughout his tenure as the Bishop of Rome, he defended the oppressed. In some of his last public comments, he called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. We are deeply sorry for the loss of a great man who spent his life in search of common ground and work to spread his message of peace and love to build bridges of mutual understanding and promote interfaith dialogue. My sincere condolences to the Catholic Church and to all wise people who aspire to live in peace, love, and tranquility.

Dr. Kamal Buraiqa Abdelsalam Hassan

General Coordinator - Al-Azhar Center for Interfaith and Intercultural Dialogue

Assistant Professor - International Islamic University - Islamabad and Al-Azhar University 

He was truly an exceptional, holy man--appreciated, loved, and respected by all: non-Christians, non-Catholics, and Muslims alike. He was a reformist and did his best to overcome the customary social & political isolation of most men of religion by addressing current issues and problems of the world. May God reward him for his good deeds and kind intentions.

Dr. Omaima Abu Bakr 

Professor of Comparative Literature 

Cairo University

As we mourn the death of Pope Francis, we are grateful to the core of our being for his papacy and for his church and global leadership. He embraced the title “Bishop of Rome” not a moment too soon, when the Catholic Church was in serious need of a reversal of priorities, and learned wisely and humbly over these twelve years how to restore the needed reforms and initiatives of Vatican II for a more synodal church. In addition, he adeptly provided unparalleled worldwide leadership for humanity in need of hope, solace and encouragement during these difficult times of wars, pandemic, and climate change and the human suffering affected by these. He brought joy and trust to ecumenical and interreligious relationships by emphasizing friendship and re-envisioning dialogue as accompaniment. His achievements give us confidence to pray that the next pope will lead with the same humility and openness for dialogue and engagement that Pope Francis witnessed to the world and that his example of living simply but generously, giving priority to the poor and those in serious need, will continue among all Christian faithful, their ordained leadership and all who honor his memory.

Dr. John Borelli

Special Assistant to the President

Senior Research Fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs

Georgetown University

Pope Francis was humble and sought to live a simple life. I remember when he came to Cairo in 2017 in his small blue Fiat and refused to ride in a bullet-proof black Mercedes. He was a voice for the poor and the marginalized. He was also a man of peace. He continuously pushed for the cessation of wars in Sudan, Gaza and Ukraine. In 2019, he invited South Sudanese leaders for a prayer meeting and during that meeting he knelt down and kissed their feet and pleaded with them to stop the war. He was very keen on Christian unity and dialogue. During his 2017 visit to Cairo, he convened an ecumenical prayer meeting which I was privileged to attend. In 2019, he signed the groundbreaking Document on Human Fraternity with the Grand Imam. Pope Francis made a significant impact for the good of the world. He will be greatly missed by many here in Egypt and all over the world. 

Dr. Mouneer Anis

Archbishop Emeritus 

Anglican-Episcopal Province of Alexandria

At the al-Azhar International Peace Conference in 2017, I watched His Holiness Pope Francis closely as he spoke at the conference center. My attention was drawn towards the calm and serenity he displayed. I am convinced that what is apparent on the outside reflects what is inside a person, and that every word reflects the heart from which it is uttered. This speaks volumes about the peace and love for the good that filled this man's heart. How could it be otherwise? As he said, "God is with a person who seeks peace." His words were a true reflection of his beliefs and convictions. His actions, therefore, became a tangible reality in the service of humanity, advocating for the weak, supporting dialogue, and spreading peace. Humanity has truly lost a dedicated human being, passionate about spreading what he believed in, striving to achieve it to the best of his ability, declaring his rejection of injustice and aggression and his renunciation of fanaticism and violence in the name of God.

Dr. Azza Ramadan

Assistant Professor of Theology

Al-Azhar University

One could accurately describe Pope Francis as the ‘pope of dialogue,’ for his tireless promotion of new avenues of dialogue within the Church and for his keen attention to the importance of interreligious relations for the health of the world. His two most significant encyclicals highlighted interfaith themes in this regard: in 2015’s Laudato si’, he argued that the sources of different religious traditions equip believers who enter into dialogue together to care for our common home, and in 2020’s Fratelli tutti, he observed that the different religions contribute significantly to building a sense of universal fraternity, friendship between peoples, and the defense of justice. Two interreligious friendships were particularly important for him: a deep bond with Rabbi Abraham Skorka from their time in Buenos Aires, and a tie to the Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayyeb that developed during his time in Rome. Pope Francis and the Grand Imam co-authored the Document on Human Fraternity in 2019, one of the most important interreligious initiatives in recent years. But the pope may be remembered best for touching interreligious moments during his many travels as pontiff, from his meeting with Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in 2021 to his tender encounter with a group of youth from various religions in Singapore in 2024. These moments reveal the Jesuit instincts of the pope, to ‘find God in all things.’

Dr. Jason Welle 

Assistant Professor of Comparative Theology

Boston College