His Holiness Pope Tawadros II Visits the Pontifical Ethiopian College in the Vatican City

You can find below the Speech of His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, during his visit to the Pontifical Ethiopian College in the Vatican City, on Tuesday 9 May 2023.

My beloved in Christ,

Christ is risen, Truly He is risen!

On behalf of myself and the accompanying delegation, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for your warm hospitality and my joy in speaking with you today. I am reminded of the words of Saint Paul the Apostle in his epistle to the Colossians: “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.” (Colossians 3:14).

We believe that love is the bond that unites people, and it is the power that enables us to achieve unity and peace in the world.

I am grateful for my visit to the Ethiopian Coptic College, as the Ethiopian Church is a sister Church to us. The Egyptian Church has served it for many centuries, since the Coptic Pope Athanasius the Apostolic sent Father Salama as the first bishop to serve the Ethiopian nation. We thank God for our good relationship and pray for peace and stability in Ethiopia. When I visited Ethiopia in 2015, I found the beloved Ethiopian people chanting: “Saint Mark is our father and Alexandria is our mother”…

This speech was originally published on the website of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Please click here to read the full text.