There are new hopes for resuming relations between Al-Azhar and the Vatican. Dr. Shawkī Allām, Egypt's Mufti, attended a peace conference in Rome as a representative of the Shaykh of Al-Azhar.  The mufti carried a message from Shaykh to the Pope welcoming the renewal of dialogue between the two sides. This is the first visit since the freezing of relations between Al-Azhar and the Vatican following comments of the previous Pope Benedict XVI after the Church of the Two Saints bombing in which he attacked Islam. This compelled the Grand Imam, Dr. Ahmad al-Tayyīb, Shaykh of Al-Azhar issue a decision to freeze dialogue between al-Azhar and the Vatican. The relationship had been frozen since 2011 (Sanā Hashīsh, al-Wafd, Oct. 1, p.16). Read the original text in Arabic.