Tag: Egypt

5 years on, what has Pope Francis done for religious freedom?

March 19, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Al-Azhar, Asia Bibi, Boko Haram, Egypt, Havana, Human rights, Iraq, Latin America, Minorities, Myanmar, Patriarch Bartholomew I, Patriarch Kirill, Pope Francis, Religious freedom, Syria, Turkey

Pope Francis greets people during his inauguration on 19 March 2013. (Photo: Getty Images)

Pope Francis, the son of Italian migrants, appeared on the steps of St Peter’s Basilica five years ago to be introduced as the first Latin American pontiff. Below, World Watch Monitor looks at a few of the highlights of his tenure so far, and his impact on freedom of religion . . . Read More

Copt soldier’s family say he didn’t commit suicide, he was killed

March 19, 2018 Egypt Asyut, Conscripts, Copts, Egypt, Giza, Upper Egypt

A young Egyptian Copt reported to have committed suicide in his army unit last week was in fact killed by his commanding officer, his family say. Matthew Samir Habib, 22, was pronounced dead at his Al-Ahram Palace Club unit in Giza, just south of Cairo, last Wednesday morning (14 March). His . . . Read More

Egypt’s elections and the man dividing the country’s Copts

March 14, 2018 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Arab Spring, Aswan, Asyut, Bahrain, Cairo, Catholics, Churches, Converts, Copts, Egypt, El-Ghad Party, Elections, Faiyum, Hosni Mubarak, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Minya, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, Pope Tawadros II, Protestants, Samalut, Sinai, Sohag, Sunni, Tanta, Terrorism, Upper Egypt

Walking around Cairo you would be forgiven for thinking that President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was the only candidate running in the elections later this month. His is the only grandiose face bearing down on passers-by, while billboards of his rival, Mousa Mostafa Mousa, are nowhere to be seen. Egypt’s 26-28 March presidential elections have . . . Read More

Egypt: Copts’ cross tattoos lead to harassment, insults

March 13, 2018 Egypt Churches, Copts, Crosses, Egypt

For Egypt’s Coptic Christians, cross tattoos emblazoned on the inside of a wrist are another form of ID. In an overwhelmingly Muslim society, these tattoos create a sense of belonging for Copts at a very young age – some children are taken to the tattoo artist at just a few . . . Read More

Beheaded Copts’ remains to be returned to families after three-year wait

March 8, 2018 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Libya, Minya, Samalut

Copts visit new church in Al-Our to remember 21 Christians killed by Islamic State on a beach in Libya in February 2015.

The bodies of the 20 Egyptian Copts and one Ghanaian Christian, beheaded by the Islamic State group on the Libyan coast in February 2015, are due to be returned to their families within the next two weeks, a local source told World Watch Monitor. The families of the victims have . . . Read More

Saudi Crown Prince makes ‘unprecedented’ visit to Coptic Pope

March 6, 2018 Copts, Egypt, Mohammad bin Salman, Pope Tawadros II, Saudi Arabia

On his first public trip abroad as the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman yesterday (5 March) visited close ally Egypt and met the leader of the Coptic Church, Reuters reports. Saudi’s al-Arabiya TV channel showed Prince Mohammed and Pope Tawadros II walking together in Cairo’s St. Mark’s . . . Read More

53 churches legalised in Egypt, 1000s more still waiting

March 5, 2018 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Catholics, Copts, Egypt, Minya, Protestants

Coptic Church in central Egypt. (Photo: World Watch Monitor, 2004)

Fifty-three Coptic Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches were recently granted licenses by the Egyptian government, as Catholic news agency Fides reported last week. These churches and annexed buildings already existed before the new law on the construction of Christian buildings of worship was passed by the Egyptian Parliament on 30 August . . . Read More

Egypt: Monks want new church in memory of Copts killed in Minya bus attack

February 22, 2018 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Minya

Following an Egyptian town council’s order last week to demolish a makeshift memorial for the 28 Copts murdered on Ascension Day last year as they travelled towards a monastery, the governor of Minya has met with a delegation of monks from the monastery to discuss the matter. The memorial was . . . Read More

Egypt’s Copts flock to see church opened in remembrance of beheaded Christians

February 15, 2018 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Libya, Minya, Upper Egypt

It is a special day for the Coptic community of Minya province, Upper Egypt, as a new church was inaugurated this morning in Al-Our village in remembrance of 20 Egyptian Copts and one Ghanaian Christian beheaded by IS on the Libyan coast three years ago today (15 February 2015). In . . . Read More

Church built to honour beheaded Copts, but families still waiting for bodies’ return

February 14, 2018 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Libya, Minya, Pope Tawadros II, Tunisia, Upper Egypt

Tomorrow, 15 February, will mark the third anniversary of the beheading of 20 Egyptian Copts and a Ghanaian Christian, carried out by IS on the Libyan coast. In remembrance of the 21 Christians, a new church is to be inaugurated in Upper Egypt’s Minya province, where the Egyptians came from. As . . . Read More

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