(From Cairo) “Pope Francis called me 10 days ago while I was in hospital, I was very happy that he called me and prayed for me”. This was said earlier today by the Orthodox Coptic Patriarch, Tawadros II, who had surgery in Germany a few days ago, during a meeting with some Italian journalists at Cairo, to coincide with the pilgrimage of a delegation of Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi in the footsteps of the Holy Family. “In our last call, I told the Pope how grateful I am to him for his visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh, which are full of dangerous tensions now”, he said. Then, he greeted Francis for his forthcoming birthday, December 17th. “We monks do not celebrate our birthday but the day we join the monastery. The first time I met Francis, we agreed that we would pray for each other every night – he concluded –. I really hold him in great esteem as a person full of God’s Spirit. I send him my warmest wishes for his birthday”.