Egyptian President Husnī Mubārak has met with Pope Shenouda III ahead of Christmas celebrations. The two met at the Presidential Palace in Cairo late last month.

The meeting came in light of the Pope’s perceived disappointment at the government’s actions in the ‘Umrāniyyah church construction debacle and subsequent riots in which 2 Coptic protestors were killed and around 140 detained.

Last Sunday the Pope ended his seclusion in Wādī al-Natrūn at Monastery of Saint Bīshūy, which he called a “solitary period of contemplation.”

The article provides no details on the content of the pontiff’s meeting with Mubārak.