The Latest: Security tight where Francis will overnight

A billboard welcomes Pope Francis, at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, April 27, 2017. On Friday, Francis is scheduled to begin a two-day pilgrimage to Egypt aimed at lifting the spirits of Christians in the Middle East, whose numbers have rapidly dwindled in recent decades due to war, displacement and emigration. The visit will include a meeting with Egypt’s president and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar as well as a Mass in a stadium on the outskirts of Cairo. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

CAIRO (AP) — The Latest on Pope Francis’ visit to Egypt (all times local):

12:15 p.m.

In Zamalek, an upscale neighborhood on a Nile River island where Pope Francis will overnight in Cairo, streets that will be used by the pontiff’s motorcade have been emptied of parked cars.

Some nearby side streets have been blocked for Francis’ two-day visit that starts Friday afternoon. Security has also been visibly tightened in the neighborhood, with uniformed and plainclothes police deployed along routes expected to be used by Francis and his entourage.

The pope’s visit, however, is unlikely to cause much disruption to the city of some 18 million people as it falls on the Muslim, Friday-Saturday weekend when the usually congested traffic is significantly lighter.

Francis is brushing off security concerns to forge ahead with a two-day trip to Egypt aimed at presenting a united Christian-Muslim front that repudiates violence committed in God’s name.

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11:55 a.m.

Security men are posted every hundred yards or so along the 20-kilometer (12-mile) stretch between the airport and central Cairo in anticipation of Pope Francis’ arrival in Egypt.

Armored cars are stationed in front of the presidential palace, where Francis makes his first stop Friday.

Banners in the Zamalek neighborhood welcomed Francis, with one from a private company saying “1,000,000 workers of Sharm el Sheikh welcome the pontiff.”

Francis is brushing off security concerns to forge ahead with a two-day trip to Egypt aimed at presenting a united Christian-Muslim front that repudiates violence committed in God’s name.

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8:40 a.m.

Pope Francis is brushing off security concerns to forge ahead with a two-day trip to Egypt aimed at presenting a united Christian-Muslim front that repudiates violence committed in God’s name.

Three weeks after Islamic militants staged twin Palm Sunday church attacks, Francis lands in Cairo on Friday for a series of deeply symbolic encounters with Egypt’s religious and political leadership. He will meet with Egypt’s president, patriarch and the “other” pope, Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and pray for victims of the attacks.

Most importantly, he will also visit Al-Azhar, the revered 1,000-year-old seat of learning in Sunni Islam. There, he will meet privately with grand imam Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, and participate in an international peace conference Friday afternoon.