Pope Francis has sent a telegram to Egypt's president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi offering condolences over the EgyptAir plane which crashed on Thursday in the Mediterranean killing all 56 passengers and 10 crew members on board.
"Having learned with sadness of the tragic crash of the Egyptian passenger airliner, Pope Francis wishes to assure you of his prayers and solidarity at this difficult time," read a telegram on Friday signed by Vatican secretary-of-state Pietro Parolin.
"Upon the relatives of the passengers and all those involved in the search and rescue efforts, His Holiness invokes the divine blessings of strength and peace."
Investigators are trying to locate the wreckage of the Airbus 320-232 plane and to find out if it crashed due to a technical fault or terrorism, as Egypt's aviation minister has said he believes.
Flight MS804 took off from Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris late on Wednesday bound for Cairo and lost contact with ground crews at 2.30am local time, about 16 kilometres inside Egyptian airspace.
The 12-year-old plane and was about 40 minutes from its destination when it disappeared. It was the aircraft’s fifth flight of the day, including earlier journeys to the Eritrean capital, Asmara, and to Tunis.
Debris from the missing plane including human remains, seats and suitcases were found by Egyptian vessels in the Mediterranean sea, Greek and Egyptian officials said on Friday.