Tag: Cairo

Pope Francis in Egypt: ‘Violence is the denial of every true religion’

May 2, 2017 Egypt Al-Azhar, Cairo, Copts, Islamic extremism, Pope Francis, Tanta

visited the Coptic Pope, Tawadros II, who narrowly escaped injury on Palm Sunday. Photo: World Watch Monitor

Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church, went to Cairo with a message of unity and peace. On his first day, speaking at an International Peace Conference held at the al-Azhar conference centre, he said that “violence is the denial of every true religion” and called on religious leaders to . . . Read More

Easter for Egypt’s Copts: mourning loved ones amid tight security

April 18, 2017 Egypt Alexandria, Beheira, Cairo, Copts, Kom El-Loufy, Tanta

During Easter Mass in St. Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria deacons carried pictures of the seven people killed in the Palm Sunday attack. Photo: Open Doors International

Christians in Egypt celebrated Easter amid tight security and in a sombre mood. While worshippers gathered in both Alexandria and Tanta, in the churches that were attacked last Sunday, authorities made a number of arrests in connection with other possible planned attacks. However, violence continued in Kom El-Loufy, in the . . . Read More

Egyptian Copt widow: ‘Gunmen who killed my husband and son then ticked them off their IS hit-list’

March 2, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Bishop Angaelos, Cairo, Copts, El-Arish, Islamic State, Ismailia, Sinai, Suez

A Coptic Christian mother in North Sinai who saw her son and husband killed in front of her in their home says she then saw the gunman calmly tick off her loved ones from a hit-list he carried. In an exclusive interview with World Watch Monitor, Nabila Fawzi Hanna, 65, . . . Read More

Copts flee El-Arish after sixth murder in month

February 24, 2017 Egypt Cairo, Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Islamic State, Mohamed Morsi, Sinai, Suez

Egyptian Christians are beginning to flee Sinai’s largest city, El-Arish, after yet another Copt was killed there, reports Watani. Kamel Youssef, a 40 year old plumber, yesterday (23 Feb) became the latest victim, according to AP, which said militants stormed his home and shot him dead in front of his . . . Read More

Islamic State threatens to wipe out Egypt’s Copts

February 20, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Cairo, Copts

UPDATE: (20 Feb) The Islamic State has released a propaganda video, vowing to wipe out Egypt’s Coptic Christians and “liberate Cairo”. The video also purports to show the last statement of the suicide bomber responsible for the 11 December attack on a church in Cairo, which killed at least 28 . . . Read More

Fifth murder of an Egyptian Copt in two weeks

January 25, 2017 Egypt Cairo, Police, Upper Egypt

The murder of another Coptic Christian in Egypt, this time in the centre of the capital, makes this the fifth death over a 13-day period. Ishak Ibrahim Fayez Younan, 37, was found dead by his brother on 16 January, at Ishak’s flat in the old part of Cairo. He leaves . . . Read More

Egypt: bombed church restored in less than a month

January 3, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Pope Tawadros II

The Egyptian church in which a suicide bomber killed 27 people has been fully restored less than one month after the attack, reports Coptic news site Watani. The Boutrossiya chapel, which is adjacent to the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral of St. Mark in Cairo, was restored following a pledge from President . . . Read More

Sisi under fire after Coptic church attack

December 15, 2016 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Bishop Angaelos, Cairo, Copts, Islamic State, Muslim Brotherhood

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (R) attends the funeral ceremony for the victims of the 11 December bomb attack on St. Peter and St. Paul Coptic Orthodox Church. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi faced sharp criticism following Sunday’s (11 Dec.) bomb attack on a Coptic church in Cairo, in which . . . Read More

Egypt’s Copts mourn after ‘deadliest attack in recent memory’

December 12, 2016 Egypt Cairo, Copts

Egypt’s Christian community is in mourning following what the BBC has referred to as the “deadliest attack on the Coptic community in recent memory”. At least 25 people were killed and more than 40 injured during the bomb attack on a chapel adjacent to the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral of St. . . . Read More

‘We have a right to build churches’ says Copt after latest attack

December 12, 2016 Egypt Cairo, Churches, Copts, Islamic extremism, Sohag

A dozen Coptic-owned houses were vandalised and three others were looted, as were four Coptic-owned shops, during the 25 Nov. attack in Al-Naghameesh village. World Watch Monitor Two weeks after a Coptic community was attacked over rumours it planned to open a church in the village, one of the Copts . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye