Pope offers Egypt’s first papal mass

The 79-year-old pontiff, dressed in white and gold robes, appeared tired as he read out the prayer in French with his aides holding the book he read.

There have been no reports of criticism of the Pope’s visit to this Muslim majority state where Christians form ten per cent of the population.

The sports stadium was full of school children, nuns in habits, dignitaries and the public.

Only about 200,000 Egyptians are Catholics while the other Christians are Copts. Egypt’s population is 64 million.

"We’re all people of faith. We’re all brothers and we come here to support each other," Yousra, a Muslim and one of Egypt’s most famous actresses, told state television at the mass.

Yesterday the pope condemned violence in the name of religion as "a terrible contradiction and a great offence against God."