Pope Francis is to receive the spiritual leader of the world's Sunni Muslims at the Vatican, the pontiff's spokesman told AFP.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Cairo's Al-Azhar, the most prestigious institution in Sunni Islam, will meet the leader of world's 1.2 billion Catholics on Monday, Father Federico Lombardi said. "This audience is being prepared and has been scheduled for Monday," he said.