Dear friends, While no one believed it anymore, the 52ⁿᵈ edition of the Book Fair took place in Cairo from June 30ᵗʰ to July 15ᵗʰ.  Aside from the masks, which are mandatory, nothing has changed. Hundreds of booksellers from the Arab world are present, thousands of visitors and a festive

Dear friends, The year 2021 will definitely be a year of changes in our team in Cairo. After twenty-four years as director of the IDEO’s library, René-Vincent du Grandlaunay, OP passes the torch to Mateus Domingues Da Silva, OP (photo) and takes a few sabbatical months. Through his efforts and

Dear friends, The pioneer work of the IDEO in the field of manuscript cataloging has been rewarded by the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO), on the World Arabic Manuscript Day. Traditionally, libraries manage manuscripts and printed materials in separate catalogs, with no link between them. However, in

Dear friends, From March 5ᵗʰ‒8ᵗʰ, Pope Francis traveled to Iraq and visited many Christian and Muslim religious leaders, both Sunni and Shia. The scars left by the successive conflicts in Iraq and by the grip of Daech are not only visible on the buildings. They are deeply engraved in the

Dear friends, On February 3ʳᵈ and 4ᵗʰ, al-Azhar celebrated the second anniversary of the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity in Abu Dhabi, a declaration signed by the Great Imam of al-Azhar, Aḥmad al-Ṭayyib and Pope Francis, by organizing a two-day online conference headed by Dr. Muḥammad al-Ḍuwaynī, Vice-Great

Dear friends, As the pandemic continues to take its toll everywhere in the world, Egypt is currently being hit by a second wave of contamination. It is impossible to know the exact number of patients suffering of Covid-19 because, the cost of a PCR test being almost 150 euros, only

Dear friends, As the sanitary situation is still lasting, this is a good time for strategic thinking. On November 26ᵗʰ, the IDEO was invited to participate in a meeting of the Egyptian members of the GIS MOMM. Behind this code name hides a Scientific Interest Groupment of the French National

Dear friends, Current events and international tensions remind us that there is a difference between rights and friendship. Yes, we all have the right to be mocking, sarcastic, or even hateful, but no, this is not the desirable mode of our relationships with each other. There is no inalienable right

Dear friends, We hope that the developments of the health crisis do not disrupt your activities too much. Circumstances force us to organize our next conference online. Dedicated to recitation (among Copts, Syriacs and Muslims), it will take place on October 16ᵗʰ, 17ᵗʰ and 18ᵗʰ. Please contact us to register

Dear friends, For many of us, the new academic year may be further disrupted by the Covid-19 epidemic. However, I hope you had a good summer, in Dahab (photo) or elsewhere. Here is a quick overview of the latest news of the IDEO, for those who may have missed some