PARIS, Sept 20: A group of 10 French imams will meet Pope Francis on Wednesday in the latest sign of rapprochement between the Vatican and the Muslim world.

The meeting has been organised by Marek Halter, a French Jewish author known for promoting religious tolerance who has organised similar initiatives in the past.

“I thought: Here’s a pope who can do what the previous pope did not do. He can reconcile Christianity with Islam,” Halter said.

The public meeting is due to take place in Saint Peter’s Square in Rome during the weekly papal audience, and will last some 15 minutes.

Hassen Chalghoumi, a Muslim community leader in the Paris suburb of Drancy who is in favour of France’s burqa ban, will be among those travelling to Rome aboard the plane of Tunisian film producer Tarak Ben Ammar, a friend of Halter’s.—AFP