Rare Moments, Two Whales Share Stages In St Peter's Field Vatican

Pope Tahadros II and Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square, Vatican. (Source: Screenshot of Vatican News' YouTube channel)

JAKARTA - A rare moment occurred at the Vatican, when Pope Francis and Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church shared a stage in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday.

Pope Tawadros, who wore a black robe, was an honorary guest at Pope Francis' general audience in St. Peter's Square which was raining. The two sat close together and gave a blessing together at the end of the event.

Pope Tamadros, 70, is at the Vatican to mark the first 50-year anniversary of a Roman Pope and a Coptic Pope that took place between their predecessors, Shenouda III and Paulus VI, in 1973.

In remarks to Pope Tawadros, Pope Francis recalled 20 Egyptian Coptics who were kidnapped and clamped on a beach in Libya by ISIS in 2015.

"The martyrs of the Koptic Church are ours as well," Pope Francis recalled.

At that time, the 20 Koptics and one Ghanaian Christian were lined up on a Libyan beach wearing orange swimsuits before being executed in the city of Sirte, Libya, which was controlled by ISIS in 2015-2017. The Islamic State group uploaded a video of the killings, which showed the people praying when they died.

The victims, whose bodies were returned to Egypt in 2018, were one of many poor Egyptian people who risked their lives to seek work amid unlawful chaos in Libya, following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and civil war.

The number of Koptics is about 10 percent of Egypt's largely Muslim population, and there is a small Coptic Christian community across the Middle East and Africa. They have long been attacked by Islamic militant groups who consider them heresies.

It is known that Orthodox Koptic Christians trace their origins from the Prophet's Saint Markus.

Pope Tawadros himself is scheduled to hold a private meeting with Pope Francis on Thursday and visit the Vatican Department that promotes Christian unity.