In the Presence of Love and Humility: A Meeting with His Holiness Pope Tawadros II
ACHRS
Dr. Nizam Assaf, Director of the Amman Center for Human Rights Studies, had the honor of meeting His Holiness Pope Tawadros II—Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark—at the Papal Residence. The meeting took place on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, alongside a distinguished group of researchers and thinkers participating in the regional Conference, held in Cairo from 4 to 6 October 2026, under the title: “Countering Hate Speech to Promote Human Dignity and Coexistence.”
His Holiness entered with a smile and shook hands with each of us individually, enveloping us in his love and humility.
He spoke to us about love as the fundamental state of human life, with hatred being the exception—illustrating this profound human concept by comparing it to health as the norm and illness as the exception.
His Holiness called upon us to sow the seeds of love across five spheres and to continue nurturing them until they bear fruit. He identified these seeds as: love for God, love for creation, love for the fellow human being, love for the homeland, and love for heaven.
He also highlighted the importance of diversity—a diversity that fosters cooperation, mutual support, and complementarity in the service of life and humanity—drawing an analogy to the varied fingers of a single hand working together to accomplish a task.
