Finally, the “interfaith” charade is over.

CAIRO Jan 20 (Reuters) – Egypt’s highest Islamic authority, al-Azhar, said on Thursday it was freezing all dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church over what it called Pope Benedict’s repeated insults towards Islam.

Benedict this month condemned attacks on churches that killed dozens of people in Egypt, Iraq and Nigeria, saying they showed the need to adopt effective measures to protect religious minorities.

His remarks followed a New Year bombing outside a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria that left 23 people dead and dozens injured and prompted demonstrations by both Christians and Muslims against sectarian violence.

The pope urged Christian communities to persevere in a non-violent manner in the face of what he described as “a strategy of violence that has Christians as a target”.

Al-Azhar’s “Islamic Research Council reviewed in an emergency meeting on Thursday the repeatedly insulting remarks issued by the Vatican Pope towards Islam and his statement that Muslims are discriminating against others who live with them in the Middle East,” Cairo-based al-Azhar said in a statement.

“The council decided to freeze dialogue between al-Azhar and the Vatican for an indefinite period,” it added.