Another Massacre of Christians in Egypt

Persecuted Christians does not include the Iglesia Ni Cristo of Manalo (1914)! Remember them this Holy Week!

Please remember them this Holy Week!

Update: 23 houses belonging to Copts burned down

Remember the video I just uploaded yesterday-- the threat of a Muslim religious woman saying they (Muslims) will burn Christians? Now it's happening.

DPA

The situation has heated up in Naga Hassan village, west of Luxor, after the killing of a Muslim man and the injury of a Copt on Friday.

The number of houses belonging to Copts that have been burned is now 23. Police fired teargas bombs to stop the clashes.

Police are protecting dozens of Copts at the police station near the area where the clashes are taking place. Security has been enhanced around Dabe’iya church, for fear of an attack. The police and military troops have exerted a huge effort to end the clashes.

Egyptian Muslim Woman Threatens Christians after Morsi's Ouster.

RIP: Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Church

We join the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI for extending our deepest sympathies for our brethren in Egypt for the loss of His Holiness Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Church.

Read: Why Pope Shenouda is called "pope"?

Alexandria: forced eviction of 62 Coptic families by the Salafis

Cairo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The radical Muslims are trying to empty a village near Alexandria of its Coptic population - 62 families, on the basis of unfounded allegations against a Copt. The Copts of Kobry-el-Sharbat (el-Amerya) were attacked on Jan. 27 by a crowd of some three thousand Muslims led by Salafi leaders who set fire to the Copts houses and shops. The violence were sparked by the allegations of a barber Muslim Toemah, who claimed that a Coptic tailor of 34, Samy Mourad Guirgis, had "illegal" photos of a Muslim woman on his cell phone. Mourad has denied the charges, and turned himself in to police in fear of his life. The Muslims set fire to his house and his shop, and his whole family was forced to leave the village. Mourad is still under police custody.

Since then there have been three "reconciliation meetings" in the police headquarters in el-Amerya, attended by representatives of the Coptic Church, the Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood. According to police, the woman concerned has denied the whole story, and no compromising photos of any kind were found Mourad’s cell phone. But radical Muslims argue that "Muslim honor has been damaged," and at the first meeting, they refused any type of compensation for the Copts who were innocent victims of their violence.

EGYPT: Truth and justice not lies and superficiality on massacre of Copts

by Bernardo Cervellera

The results of the autopsies will be released Oct. 27. But Egyptian army trying to silence the issue by manipulating the truth and accusing the Copts of provoking the violence despite the eyewitness accounts and videos. Shenouda III is opposed to the military’s version. Obama also assumes that the Copts were violent. Not to forget AsiaNews publishes some pictures of the massacre, sent by Coptic organizations. (Let us keep in our prayers our brothers and sisters in Egypt. Let us recommend the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen -CD2000)

Rome (AsiaNews) - The tortured bodies of Coptic Christians killed on 9 October demand truth and justice. The 26 still bloody corpses, heads smashed by the violence of military tanks and armored vehicles are piled up in of Cairo's Coptic Hospital and other hospitals in the city waiting for autopsy. Ihsan Kamel, head of forensic medicine, said it will take time and that the results will be published only on October 27. He also claimed that declarations made by forensic doctors in the past week may be inaccurate. (More disturbing photos... WARNING: The images presented here are very harsh and could upset sensitive viewers. To see the images click here.)

Perhaps this warning is due to scrupulousness and scientific accuracy. We hope it is not an attempt to discredit the eye-witness accounts of demonstrators or the evidence of doctors who stressed that the deaths of several victims was caused by bullets from firearms and from the crushing weight of heavy vehicles.

Catholic Church leader pays tribute to fallen demonstrators in Egypt

Source: Church to the Church in need - The leader of Catholics in Egypt has defended the memory of "honest and sincere" Copts whose protest ended in violence and death and has called on the regime to step up security and do more to uphold the rule of law.

In an official statement about the October 9th pro-Christian demonstrations in Cairo, Patriarch Cardinal Antonios Naguib of Alexandria went on to call on Christians not to be deterred and to continue to “participate” in political action towards the creation of a new Egypt post-Mubarak.

The document, a copy of which was sent to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), underlines the Patriarch’s “full confidence” in the interim military regime after a week of criticism about the government’s response to the demonstrations, which according to latest figures, led to the deaths of about 25 people with 329 injured.

Patriarch Naguib, who is head of Egypt’s 250,000-strong Coptic Catholic Church, writes: “With wounded hearts, we…express our deep sorrow for the bloody events suffered by honest and sincere children of the nation.”

Egypt's deputy premier quits over deadly clashes

Egyptian Coptic men carry the coffin of a victim of Sunday's deadly clashes with security forces during a funeral at Abassaiya Cathedral in Cairo. Thousands of people attended a service at the Copt cathedral for the funerals of 17 demonstrators.(AFP/Mohammed Hossam)

News Source: AFP By Jailan Zayan

CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt's deputy prime minister resigned on Tuesday over clashes that killed 25 people, mainly Coptic Christians, amid mounting anger at the ruling military and calls for the premier to quit.

Hazem al-Beblawi announced his resignation, saying that despite having no direct involvement in the clashes, the government ultimately bore responsibility for what happened.

"The current circumstances are very difficult and require a new and different way of thinking and working," Beblawi was quoted as saying by the official MENA news agency.

On Sunday, 25 people were killed and more than 300 injured when a protest demonstration by Coptic Christians was attacked by the army and thugs, sparking furious condemnation of the leadership's handling of the transition from Hosni Mubarak's rule.

Military prosecutors said they have remanded 28 people in custody -- both Muslims and Christians-- for 15 days pending investigations, MENA reported.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which took power when Mubarak was ousted in February, had tasked Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's government to immediately form a fact-finding panel to investigate the clashes.

The UN human rights office urged Egypt to ensure that any probes are conducted in an impartial and independent manner.

Who are Coptic Christians?

Coptic is a general term used for CHRISTIANS in EGYPT. According to the video below (thanks to Dar Al Masih for the link), there are TWO COPTIC CHRISTIAN GROUPS. One is the Coptic Orthodox and the other is Coptic Catholic. The latter belongs to the WORLDWIDE CATHOLIC CHURCH.-CD2000

Here is from Wikipedia:

The Coptic Catholic Church is an Alexandrian Rite particular Church in full communion with the Pope of Rome (it is thus part of the larger worldwide Roman Catholic Church). Historically, Coptic Catholics represent a schism from the Coptic Orthodox Church, leaving that church in order to come into full communion with the Bishop of Rome. The current Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria is Archbishop Antonios Naguib, who replaced Stephanos II Ghattas in 2005. The offices of the Patriarchate are located in Cairo. The Cathedral (Our Lady of Egypt) is located in Nasr City, a modern suburb of Cairo.

In 1824 the Holy See created a Patriarchate for Coptic Catholics, but it existed only on paper. The Ottoman authorities permitted the Coptic Catholics to begin building their own churches in 1829.

In 1895 Pope Leo XIII re-established the Patriarchate.

Religious orders

The Catholic Coptic Church does not have Coptic monasteries. Instead the Church has religious congregations such as the three communities for women: the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, the Coptic Sisters of Jesus and Mary (both based in Egypt) and the Egyptian Province of the Little Sisters of Jesus. There is also a community of male Franciscans.

Educational and health services

Most candidates for the priesthood are trained at St. Leo’s Patriarchal Seminary, in suburban Cairo. More than 100 Coptic Catholic parishes administer primary schools, and some have secondary schools as well. The church maintains a hospital, a number of medical dispensaries and clinics, and several orphanages.

Coptic Catholics have several religious orders, modelled on western monastic communities, involved in educational, medical, and charitable activities.

Islamic group seeks place in a democratic Egypt

In this Wednesday, May 18, 2011 picture, supporters attend a Muslim Brotherhood electoral rally in the Munib neighborhood of Cairo, Egypt. Once forced underground, the Brotherhood is likely to be part of Egypt's new government, fueling fears of Islamic rule. But the Brotherhood's own identity is on the line, and there is pressure from inside and out for it not to go down a sharp-right Islamic road. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

CAIRO (AP) — The night breeze blew foul wafts from a nearby canal black with garbage and pollution. The streets jammed with trucks and motorized rickshaws were so shattered that they hardly seemed paved at all.

It was to Cairo's slum of Munib on a recent evening that the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's biggest Islamic group, brought its election campaign message: The country must turn to Islam to rebuild.

"Muslims around the world expect great things from you," Essam el-Erian, deputy head of the Brotherhood's new political party, told supporters crowded into a tent, with men across the aisle from women in headscarves or black veils. "We have to build a nation of freedom and equality, a nation of the true Islam."

Egypt Christian Copts sentences over church scuffle

By AFP

Egyptian Coptic Christians demonstrate in Cairo in March 2011. An Egyptian military court on Sunday sentenced two Coptic Christians to five years in jail for violence and trying to turn a factory into an unlicensed church, judicial sources said.(AFP/File/Aris Messinis)

CAIRO (AFP) - An Egyptian military court on Sunday sentenced two Coptic Christians to five years in jail for violence and trying to turn a factory into an unlicensed church, judicial sources said.

The two men, also convicted of possessing weapons, were arrested on May 18 after clashes between Christians and Muslims in Cairo's Ain Shams district as the Copts planned to hold prayers in the building.

A Coptic-led group that took part in a reconciliation meeting between the two sides says the two men are innocent and their lawyers will try to appeal the ruling.

Sameh Abdel Satar, a member of the Egypt Lovers and Peace Society, said the Coptic Church had obtained permission in January to convert the building, which it had purchased in 2006, into a church.

Egypt to lift restrictions on building churches

An Egyptian soldier guards the Virgin Mary church in the Imbaba district of Cairo on May 10. Egypt's caretaker government said on Wednesday it will prepare a law within a month to ease restrictions on building churches while banning protests in front of places of worship, after attacks on Cairo churches.(AFP/File/Khaled Desouki)

By Samer al-Atrush, AFP

CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt's caretaker government said on Wednesday it will prepare a law within a month to ease restrictions on building churches while banning protests in front of places of worship, after attacks on Cairo churches.

Formed after 15 people died when a Muslim mob attacked two Cairo churches on Saturday, the cabinet's justice committee said in a statement that it would "decisively stand against incitement to hatred and sectarianism."

The committee was tasked with "studying the project of unifying laws for the construction of places of worship, to be completed within 30 days."

Catholic leader fears Islamic takeover in Egypt

Photo Source: Jesus of Nazareth

Egypt, Catholic Culture - A spokesman for Egypt’s small Catholic community has appealed to international leaders to support the country’s existing military regime, in order to prevent a takeover by Islamic fundamentalists.

Father Rafic Greich, the press officer for the Egyptian Catholic hierarchy, told the AsiaNews service that the situation for all Christians is “very critical” in the wake of widespread sectarian violence in Cairo. Police have closed down the capital, hoping to curb the violence, in which militant Muslims have attacked Coptic Orthodox churches. While no Catholic churches have yet been attacked, all Christians face an unsettled future, as Islamic fundamentalists show their rising power.

The “Arab spring” uprising that led to the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak was primarily a secular movement, Father Greich says, but the leaders of that movement have not made any subsequent impact on the national political scene, while Islamic groups like the Muslim Brotherhood have moved to augment their power.

Muslims Attack Christians in Egypt, 12 Killed, 232 Injured

By Mary Abdelmassih

(AINA) -- Christians Copts in the area of Embaba were attacked Saturday evening by Muslim Salafis. The attacks lasted for 14 hours. The Muslims fired guns and rifles and hurled Molotov cocktails at Coptic churches, houses and businesses. 12 Copts were killed and 232 injured.

The church of Saint Mina church was the first to be attacked. According to its pastor Fr. Abanoub the attack started at 5.30 PM on Saturday May 7, when church parishioners noticed a large number of Salafis, estimated at 3000 men, congregating near the church. Anticipating trouble, the army was called. The Salafis went to the church and asked to search it because they believed a Christian girl named called Abir, who had converted to Islam, married a Salafi and wanted to revert back to Christianity, was hiding inside the church. The Muslims circulated a rumor that the husband of Abir received a call from her asking him to save her as she was being "tortured" inside the church.

The governor of Giza said that there are no girls hiding in St. Mina Church. He falsely claimed that things were under control and a "reconciliation" meeting will be arranged for tomorrow. The army later cordoned off the entire district of Embaba.

At least 6 dead in Egyptian sectarian violence

Egyptians gather as firefighters extinguish a blaze at a church following clashes at another church between Muslims and Christians in Cairo on Sunday.

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- At least six people were killed and 120 injured in sectarian clashes outside a church in Cairo on Saturday, officials said.

A group of Muslim Salafists attacked the Saint Mena Coptic Orthodox Church. Gunfire rang out as people sprinted for cover.

"With my own eyes I saw three people killed and dozens injured," said Mina Adel, a Christian resident. "There's no security here. There's a big problem. People attacked us, and we have to protect ourselves."

Egyptian Interior Ministry spokesman Alla Mahmoud said in a statement that six people were killed and 120 injured.

He said the clashes were sparked by reports of a Christian woman who married a Muslim man and was allegedly being held inside the church.

190 in Egypt sectarian clashes to face military trial

Egyptians watch as firefighters battle a blaze in a church after clashes between Muslims and Christians in Cairo. Egypt's Prime Minister Essam Sharaf called an urgent cabinet meeting Sunday and postponed a Gulf visit after the clashes which left nine people dead, state media said.(AFP)

By Jailan Zayan, AFP

CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt's military rulers said on Sunday that 190 people detained overnight in connection with deadly clashes between Muslims and Christians in Cairo will face a military trial.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which has ruled Egypt since a popular uprising toppled president Hosni Mubarak, ordered "the transfer of all those arrested in connection with (Saturday's) events, and they number 190, to the Supreme Military Court, as a deterrent to all those who think of toying with the potential of this nation."

US Commission Names 14 Worst Violators Of Religious Freedom

EWTN - For the first time, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has listed Egypt among the world’s worst violators of religious freedom.

In its 2011 annual report, the commission recommended that the State Department designate 14 nations--Burma, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam--as “countries of particular concern” (CPCs).

Patriarch Sees Egypt Faced With A Choice: Democracy Or Islamism

Patriarch Antonios Naguib
(Photo Source: Clericalwhispers Blog)

ROME, ITALY, March 31 (CNA/EWTN News) - "We don't have an intermediate choice" between Islamism and democracy, says Cardinal Patriarch Antonios Naguib about the future of Egypt.

For the head of Catholics in Egypt and the Pope's right-hand man on the ground, Egypt is destined to be either a nation where freedom, equal rights and democracy prevail, or a Muslim state in which these values are intrinsically compromised.

The head of Coptic Catholics in Egypt spoke openly to CNA about the high stakes transition that comes on the heels of the Tahrir Square protests that forced Hosni Mubarak to resign his 30-year presidency.

Fatwa: "It Is Not Permissible ... to Drive Christians to Their Churches"

Source: WikiIslam, Translated from the original Arabic by Al Mutarjim.

In the wake of the Alexandria bombing, here comes this fatwa from the highly-popular Islamic website Islamweb.net ruling that Muslims are not allowed to drive Christians to church, as that is tantamount to "support[ing] them in their vain and perverted rites and religion." 

Question: A bus driver occasionally drives Christians to their churches to perform religious rites. He then goes to the mosque and performs his prayers. When they finish their rites, he drives them back home. Of course he doesn't always do this, but he does do it sometimes. At times he also drives Christian dance teams, who are performing some rites associated with Christian holidays. What is the ruling on all of this? Fatwa: Praise be to Allah, and prayers and peace be upon the prophet of Allah, and on his family and companions, etc.

It is not permissible for this man to drive Christians to their churches, nor to drive those who dance on their holidays. For if the Christians are confessing their religion, it is not permissible to support them in their vain and perverted rites and religion. This is according to the saying of the Most High: "Help ye one another in righteousness and piety, but help ye not one another in sin and rancour" [Qur'an 5:2]. This is the general view, which is contrary to the view of the Hanafis, who hold that it is permissible to do such things for employment. [...]

Ruling on transporting Christians to their churches
Islamweb, Fatwa No. 147523, January 19, 2011

According to this Fatwa, a Muslim driver is not permitted to drive Christians to their churches, nor to any of their activities.  It is strictly forbidden for a Muslim to do that because our Christian religion and rites are "vain and perverted."