Egypt's Tourism Minister Yahia Rashed expressed on Saturday his delight of the successful visit of Pope Francis II, head of the Roman Catholic Church, to Cairo, describing it as "invaluable". He said, "Pope Francis II has delivered an invaluable message to the world that Egypt is the land of peace, which protected the Holy Family. It is a message from the world's first Christian cleric to all the peoples of the world. The whole world is listening to him, and this message will attract people's attention to visit Egypt." Pope Francis II held a Mass on Saturday at the Air Defense stadium in Cairo in the presence of more than 25,000 Egyptians from six different Catholic sects. The prayers were held amid tight security, while members of parliament and other officials also participated in the Mass. Pope Francis had arrived in Egypt on Friday for a brief visit during which he met President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Al-Azhar's Grand Imam, Ahmed Al-Tayeb. The pope also met with Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria to sign a historic agreement whereby the Catholic and Orthodox Churches will recognize the baptism conducted by each other. Rashed said that the Ministry of Tourism has worked on the promotion of this visit for a long time through several methods, including the use of social media web sites, especially in Western countries. He pointed out that the ministry is working on a tourist program including the places visited by the Holy Family during its stay in Egypt, which lasted for almost three years, stressing that all these activities have a great impact in improving Egypt's image abroad.
