Issued by the Catholic Center for Studies and Media - Jordan. Editor-in-chief Fr. Rif'at Bader - موقع أبونا abouna.org

Published on Tuesday, 22 January 2019
Egypt opens landmark cathedral but smaller churches 'still ignored'

la-croix.com :

Egypt has welcomed the largest cathedral in the Middle East and legalized scores of churches this year but Christian communities say inefficient bureaucracy is hamstringing progress in the Muslim-majority nation, as thousands of requests remain unanswered.

A report by the Project on Middle East Democracy praised the recognition of 80 new churches and service buildings but lamented how these only represent a fraction of the 3,800 requests sent to the government, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya reports.
It said Cairo remains sluggish in approving construction and renovation permits for smaller places of worship despite a law being passed in 2016 that was supposed to make these easier to obtain.

The Church Construction and Renovation Law was issued by President Abdel Fattah Sisi to meet the demands of Egypt's Christians, which make up about 10 per cent of the population. Most identify as Orthodox Coptics.

But they have not been appeased by the recent inauguration of the Coptic Cathedral of the Nativity at the New Administrative Capital (NAC) east of Cairo, nor the fact there are now 627 legalized Christian houses of worship nationwide, the media reports.

Coptic Orthodox Bishop Morcos of Shubra al-Khaima said the fate of thousands of churches is hanging in the balance and the government must find ways to accelerate the process of granting them due legal standing.

"According to the law, the governor under whose jurisdiction the church falls should respond to our request within four months, but in many cases there is no response," he was quoted as saying.

Rev. Andrea Zaki, head of Egypt's Protestant community, said he has received approval for just 10 percent of the requests submitted.

"We're hoping that procedures will be faster in the coming phase," he added.

The report questioned why problems like "unlawful church closures, harassment of worshippers by security agencies (and) failure to protect churches from terrorist and sectarian violence" had not been addressed.

It claimed the justice system was failing to "resolve local conflicts around churches."

The Coalition of Egyptian Parties urged patience, arguing that sectarian conflict would be eased as more churches are legalized.