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Egypt: Poverty and ignorance behind extremist attacks, bishop says

The Coptic Catholic Bishop Antonios Aziz Mina of Guizeh has called on Christians to continue to show love in the face of recent attacks by extremist groups, reports CISA News.

Bishop Mina told the Germany-based international Catholic pastoral charity, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), that it was important for Christians to continue to give an authentic witness of love.

Two factors are responsible for violence and extremism, namely poverty and ignorance, the bishop said, and called for both to be tackled more vigorously.

The Catholic Church in Egypt is striving to create a new awareness among people. With its schools, hospitals and other educational programmes it is reaching out not only to Catholics but to all Egyptians, Bishop Mina told ACN.

Through these activities, the Church bears witness to love “without directly speaking about Christ and without having to hold a Bible in one’s hand.”

“People know that I am a Christian and I am doing all this in the name of Christ.” In this way a great deal could be done to contribute to peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims, he said.

Between 8,000 and 9,000 Catholics live in the Diocese of Guizeh, which has nine parishes served by nine priests, three of whom are ill and two work in the seminary. Hence, not surprisingly, the bishop’s most urgent need is for new priests.

Over 90 percent of the 80 million Egyptians are Muslim, while around 6 percent are Christian, most of them Coptic Orthodox. About 300,000 are Catholic.

[06/22/2008]

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