Pope John Paul II is expected to meet one of the most important leaders in the Muslim faith when he pays the first ever visit by a pontiff to Egypt later this week.

The Pope, who is due in Cairo on Thursday for a 3-day visit, is expected to be received on arrival by the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak.

He will then meet Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed al-Tantawi, who is the Imam of al-Azhar University in Cairo and regarded as the highest authority for the world's Sunni Muslims.

A courtesy call

A spokesman for the Egyptian Catholic Church, Bishop Yohanna Qulta, said the meeting would crown more than 20 years of dialogue between the Vatican and the leading Sunni cleric.

But he went on to stress that it would be just "a courtesy call" and no joint statements would be released.

"The Vatican has said that this is purely a spiritual journey to make a pilgrimage to Mount Sinai where Moses received the revelation and the Ten Commandments. It has no political motivation," the bishop said.

He added that the Pope's visit would also help remove centuries of inter-Christian misunderstanding between Catholic and Orthodox believers.

"The effect of the visit will be to deepen love and understanding between people and affirm that living together is necessary and important."

Site of burning bush

Pope John Paul is due to visit the Greek Orthodox Saint Catherine's monastery, some 400km south-east of Cairo, at the foot of the mountains of the Sinai desert.

The 1,600-year-old monastery is built at the site where it is believed that God spoke to Moses through the burning bush and gave him the Ten Commandments.

BBC Middle East correspondent Frank Gardner says that even though many of Egypt's estimated 6m Orthodox Christians welcome the Pope's visit, the monks at the monastery have mixed feelings, because they resent any suggestion of unity with the Vatican.

The Pope will hold a planned prayer session outside the monastery walls.

He will be accompanied on the trip by Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, who is the head of the Vatican's interfaith committee.