CAIRO — With Egyptian phone and Internet service sporadic since the start of the popular uprising last week, it has been difficult to gauge the situation of Egyptian Christians.
Those who have managed to communicate with the outside world say they are both hopeful that the mass protests will lead to a better, more democratic Egypt — and fearful that Islamists will gain at least partial control of the government.
Though Church leaders have reportedly advised their flocks to steer clear of the mass demonstrations taking place in Cairo and the port city of Alexandria to the north, news reports have shown Christians, crosses dangling from their necks, demonstrating side by side with Muslims.
Christians comprise roughly 10% of Egypt’s population of 80 million. The vast majority are Orthodox Copts, who have lived in the land for almost two millennia, but there is also a 250,000-strong Catholic Copt community dating back to the 17th century, when some Copts heeded the call of Catholic missionaries.
There are also small communities of Armenian and Maronite Catholics, as well as Protestants.
The country’s Christians suffer intolerance, discrimination and hatred. Their places of worship are attacked, and they are the object of sectarian violence, Father Justo Lacunza Balda, the former rector of Rome’s Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, told Catholic News Service.
Many Christians have been murdered in terror attacks by radical Muslims. The most recent occurred New Year’s Day, when a car bomb killed 21 people and injured 80 as they were leaving a New Year’s Mass at a Coptic church in Alexandria.
The attack spurred an angry response from Copts, who clashed with police and attacked a mosque.
Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton told The Daily Caller, a political journalism website, that the Christian minority could be endangered if President Hosni Mubarak is forced to resign.
While the demonstrators are clamoring for Western-style democracy and equality, Bolton said, the greater likelihood is [that] a radical, tightly-knit organization like the Muslim Brotherhood will take advantage of the chaos and seize power.
It is really legitimate for the Copts to be worried that instability will follow Mubarak’s fall and his replacement with the Muslim Brotherhood, Bolton said.
‘We Share the Same Situation’
In a phone interview with the Register from his office in Cairo, Cardinal Antonios Naguib, the Coptic Catholic patriarch of Alexandria, said Christians are hoping for the best.
“At the moment, we share the same situation as the entire population. We hope that everything will be peaceful,” Cardinal Naguib said.
Since the start of the uprising, the patriarch said, Egyptians have pulled together to enact change.
“What is really wonderful is the solidarity,” he said. “Every night, Christians and Muslims spend the nights together helping the armed forces keep order.”
Cardinal Naguib said that, until now, the demonstrations have been directed solely toward the government and not the country’s Christian minority.
“We know, first and foremost, that it is God who protects us, but that in daily life, we do. Fortunately, there have been no attacks against any place of worship, Christian or Muslim, nothing aimed at destroying the churches or the mosques. We hope it will always be like this,” the cardinal said.
The patriarch said that, like all Egyptian schools, his community’s 170 schools have been closed since the uprising to ensure the safety of teachers and parents.
“The majority of businesses and offices are not operating, so the parents are at home too,” Cardinal Naguib said.
Despite the turmoil, church services are going on as usual, the patriarch added.
“Mass was celebrated in all our churches on Sunday. Fewer people than usual came, but there were enough,” he said, explaining that the security services have asked nonessential personnel to travel as little as possible. People also preferred to stay close to home because the government has limited phone and Internet access and communicating can be difficult.
Asked what Christians outside Egypt can do to help their Egyptian brethren, Cardinal Naguib responded, “Pray for the peace in Egypt and all other countries where there are difficulties.”
The Muslim Brotherhood
The patriarch also urged Christians to take their news from reliable sources. He said that some media outlets have contributed to the tensions.
Miral Eid, an Orthodox Copt who works in a travel agency in Cairo, agreed that the Christian community has not suffered any ill effects from the uprising.
“I did not participate in the demonstrations, as I have two young children,” she said. “I would have loved to take part in the peaceful demonstrations that took place on Tuesday and Friday.”
Eid said that Copts in Egypt want the changes that have been called upon in the demonstrations: “Everyone was chanting out for the same thing.”
The young mother confirmed that Christians are extremely fearful that the Muslim Brotherhood will gain strength, because it would be a disaster not only to Christians, but to Egypt as a whole.
“I love my country, and I want to see it excel in the right direction,” she said. “The Muslim Brotherhood, with all due respect, has a set agenda that I see will bring Egypt backwards hundreds of years.”
Register Middle East correspondent Michele Chabin writes from Jerusalem.
Tim Drake: Register Radio: The Plight of Egyptian Coptic Christians
Edward Pentin: Pope's Annual Survey of the World - Full Text
Comments
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It is obvious that the Muslim Brotherhood are behind this ...
they are an extremist organization who have been outlawed.
Good egyptians, christians and Jews and honest muslims..
should be afraid if they take power.. they will destabilize Egypt and the entire Middle East. Christians will be killed as they are doing in Iraq. Al Qaeda most certainly is involved.
The west is shockingly naive in its media reports on this..
Barak Obama US President has hurt the transition process in an unbelievable way by supporting, in his own words.. the Muslim Brotherhood..
David Cameron UK .. must be on happy pills .. as he too doesnt seem to grasp the depth of this..
The Muslim Brotherhood, who already have their leader named.. he’s the pro Iran guy in case noone knows…will then try to flatten Israel..
Israel will respond in kind.. and we will have the Third World War.\
The media for the most part have done a terrible job terrible..
of not defending a peaceful transition. The president must be supported until he steps down ... Do any of you really believe the Muslim Brotherhood when they say there will be equality of all- garbage..
they will run it as a despot nation.. women will be set back 100 yrs..
so now .. lets all figure out ways re oil-
we have lots of oil in our own country…. and other!
Maria Jones, why are you surprised by Obama’s support of Muslim Brotherhood???? Obama is a Muslim and the sooner the whole world wakes up to this fact the better, especially the Americans. Yes, we all need to begin praying very, very hard for the Christians in all Muslim countries. These uprisings - supported by Al Qaeda - will put the extremist Muslims in power who will immediately enforce Sharia Law. Then the persecutions of infidels will begin proper. The Church is once again, entering the age of Persecutions. May God help us all. Oh Holy Mother of God, intercede for your Son’s Flock
As a former boss once said ” Hope is not a course of action”. I fear for the Egyptian people because the only organized force, besides the military, in an Egypt where the Mubaric admin is chased out of town without an orderly transition government operation would be those relating to the radical Islamic groups. If the Brotherhood or other Jihadist type groups take power, it will be a disaster for the Christians in Egypt, Israel and for U.S. foreign policy in the region. Whether one wants to put the blame on the Obama admin or not, it looks more and more like the president that succeeds Pres Obama will be facing another war. There will be no peace in the Middle East until this country and allies launch a proactive operation against the radical Islamic factions. As for peace in this nation, so long as we murder our unborn, don’t look for too much help from our Creator that has blessed us over the years.
At least now the Patriarch will bring these Muslims to the ship of Saint Peter. Our Blessed Mother is behind all of this. Since the bombing of the Coptic churches in Egypt, tension has risen and oppression has been brought to the mass media. Our suffering Christian brothers, though some may not all be directly loyal to Rome need our charity and prayers in this time of need. May they find peace through Christ under the guidance of Patriarch Antonios Naguib. He is a holy man and will do the best to support the Egyptian people in seeking freedom from these Muslims who murder and persecute them.
With all due respect, I lived in Egypt for three years, moving their just after the start of the Iraq war. I attended the Catholic Church in Maadi, a suburb of Cairo. The two people posting here should not be listened to because they know almost nothing about Egypt or the Middle East. The Brotherhood has maybe 25% of support…mainly because they have provided medical and social welfare services for the poorest of the poor for many years where the state didn’t and because, even though they renounced violence in the early 1990s, they have been routinely rounded up and tortured.
Nobody with any on the ground experience in the Middle East is remotely afraid the Brotherhood will take over. There are Catholics, Copts, Muslims joining hands in Tahrir Square, praying TOGETHER for peace. The Catholic Cardinal has joined hands with the Sheikh offering prayers. I have just watched this on t.v.. Copts are surrounding Muslims protecting them in prayer. I have Egyptian friends - both Muslim and Christians - who have been beaten to a pulp by security forces.
We Americans have PAID for this to the tune of $50 billion over the course of 30 years. It is time US Catholics decided whether we believe in Christ’s message of justice,compassion, love of our neighbor. Or whether we think its ok to simply disregard this if we don’t like the race, religion or culture of the “neighbor.” In my mind, it is all or nothing. So go ahead and be a fear-addled bigot if you wish. You can explain it at the pearly gates. Maybe God will give you a pass.
I am very familiar with the Coptic community, Egyptian culture and recent events. It seems many are twisting the facts to suit a narrative they are determined to support.
First, New Year’s Eve was not the most recent attack on Copts. Since then there was an attack that took place on a train and a killing of 11 in Al-Minya. Bolton is an odd choice of experts: surely someone with more focused knowledge of Egypt could have been found. Many of the present protesters were involved in earlier protests against the govt failure to protect Copts. Most are there solely asking for freedom and justice. It is indeed a risk that the MB could coopt the movement, but is it worth supporting the oppression of all Egyptians? God is on the side of the poor and oppressed. Are you on God’s side?
The hysteria and misinformation in some comments here is sad. Please do not exploit our Coptic brothers in support of your own political beliefs.
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