The security chief of Vatican City, Domenico Giani, arrived in Cairo on Friday with a delegation from the Vatican, state-media reported.
This comes as Pope Francis II is expected to arrive on 28 April.
The delegation includes seven security officials who will meet with Egyptian officials in both the presidency and the Ministry of Interior, in order to prepare for the pope’s visit.
Pope Francis is set to visit Egypt on 28-29 April and is scheduled to meet with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and then with Al-Azhar Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb to mend ties between Muslims and Christians. He will also be giving a speech at the International Conference for Peace and will hold talks with Coptic Pope Tawadros II.
In a speech before the Security Council on Thursday, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, cited the pope’s concerns about the situation in Egypt after the Palm Sunday terrorist bombings.
Pope Francis insisted on visiting Egypt despite the terror attacks, Vatican officials said.
“The pope’s visit is extremely important for the country and for the church. We, therefore, expect not only a message of peace and solidarity, but also a message of hope,” spokesperson of the Catholic Coptic Church, Father Rafic Greiche, told Aleteia.
The visit comes in the same month of the two blasts in two churches in Tanta and Alexandria during Palm Sunday celebrations earlier this month, which claimed the lives of 45 people and injured dozens.
