Free Republic

Cairo (Agenzia Fides) - It will be the first African pediatric hospital to bear the name of the Child Jesus and will belong to the Coptic Catholic Church. It will guarantee health care for children and pregnant women in a country where, unfortunately, high birth rates continue to be marked by a high incidence of neonatal mortality. It will be built on land offered in concession by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi. This is the work promoted by the "Cairo Bambino Gesù Association", a charity organization chaired by the Coptic Catholic priest Yoannis Lahzi Gaid, a member of the...

Another day has passed, and another Muslim man has murdered another Coptic Christian in Egypt. On Sunday, June 5, 2022—the same day Muslims attacked a packed church in Nigeria, massacring more than 50 Christians—Abdullah Hosni, a Muslim man with a long history of harassing Christians, randomly attacked a Copt, Kirollos (Cyril) Megali, with a meat cleaver in a village in Sohag, Upper Egypt. Kirollos, who was rushed to a hospital “drenched in blood and with multiple stab wounds,” spent three days in an intensive care unit before succumbing to his injuries, including hack wounds to his skull. Kirollos after being...

Cairo (Agenzia Fides) - The families of Coptic Christians massacred in February 2015 by jihadists linked to the self-proclaimed Islamic State continue to receive monthly the pension allowance that the Egyptian State reserves for victims of terrorism and members of the military and security apparatus who fall in the exercise of their work. This allowance has increased considerably over the years, from 1500 to 3555 Egyptian pounds per month. This measure was confirmed by Ms Nevin al Kabbaj, Egyptian Minister of Social Solidarity, who is also the Executive Director of the Special Fund created to honor those killed or missing...

The faces of three ancient Egyptian men who lived up to 2,797 years ago have been reconstructed using genetic data extracted from their mummified remains. It is the first time such a technique has been used on human DNA of that age. The trio came from Abusir el-Meleq, an ancient city on a floodplain to the south of Cairo, and are estimated to have been buried some time between 780 BC and 5 AD.... ...'This is the first time comprehensive DNA phenotyping has been performed on human DNA of this age,' Parabon said in a statement. The firm's experts found...

The recent execution of a Coptic Christian man in the Sinai is a reminder that the peninsula is a hotbed of wanton, jihadi terrorism in dire need of a crackdown. Although the murder of 62-year-old Nabil H. Salama was videotaped in an Islamic State propaganda video—meaning it received some media attention in the West—much lesser known is that the Muslim terrorists have been terrorozing, massacring, and displacing the small Coptic community for years in the Sinai. Early 2017 probably saw the worst atrocities. Then, the Islamic State in Sinai had released a video promising more attacks on the “worshipers...

Last week the Egyptian court system denied justice to Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Christian minority by again postponing judgment on two notorious cases that have been at court for years. The first concerns Soa‘d Thabet, a 70-year-old Coptic grandmother. On May 20, 2016, a mob of some 300 Muslim men descended on her home, stripped her completely naked, beat, spit on, and paraded her in the streets of al-Karm village (in Minya governorate) to jeers, whistles, and triumphant shouts of “Allahu Akbar.” Earlier that day she and her husband had gone to local police and complained that they were being harassed...

On learning that the U.S. Army War College capitulated to the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (“CAIR”) hysterical demands, Lt Col. Allen West wrote: “This is embarrassing, disgusting, appalling, and highly disconcerting. My Army has just emboldened and encouraged the enemy, and they are laughing at us.” Recent events validate his prediction: having cowed the Army War College into obedience, an “emboldened and encouraged” CAIR replicated its demands with Congress. ... after inviting me to lecture on my recent book on the military history between Islam and the West, the U.S. Army War College (USAWC) reneged once CAIR cried “Islamophobia” and...

CAIRO - Egypt’s Christians are optimistic following the first Coptic mass in Saudi Arabia. Dozens of Coptic Christians attended the mass at a tourist facility in Riyadh. The mass, Egypt’s Christians said, reflects the tremendous changes happening in Saudi Arabia. “It even portends more change in that great country in the future,” said Father Polis Halim, spokesman of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church. “Saudi Arabia is showing an admirable degree of tolerance that gives us a lot of hope.” The story began in May when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz visited Saint Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in...

CAIRO – Islamic militants on Friday ambushed two buses carrying Christian pilgrims on their way to a remote desert monastery south of the Egyptian capital of Cairo, killing seven and wounding up to 16, according to the Interior Ministry and security officials. Coptic Orthodox Church spokesman Boulos Halim said the death toll was likely to rise. Local church officials in Minya province where the attack took place put the death toll at 10, but the higher figure could not be confirmed. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which bore the hallmarks of Islamic militants who have for years...

MINYA, Egypt (AP) -- Hundreds of Egyptian Christians attended a funeral service Saturday after seven people were killed in an ambush by Islamic State militants of buses carrying pilgrims to a remote desert monastery. 【Related】IS attack on Christian pilgrims in Egypt kills 7 【Related】Japan, Egypt to work to bring stability to Middle East 【Related】Egypt governor: Remove Disney figures from kindergartens The service at Prince Tadros church in the central city of Minya was held amid tight security. Minya's top cleric, Anba Makarios, led prayers over a row of six white coffins, all victims from the same family. A separate funeral...

At least seven people were killed and at least 19 others were injured in an attack on several buses carrying Coptic Christians near a monastery in Egypt on Friday, according to a spokesperson for Egypt's Coptic Church. Gunmen attacked two buses and a microbus on a road near the Monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor, in Minya, south of Cairo, the spokesperson said. One of the buses was carrying 28 members of a family that had traveled to the monastery for the baptism of one of its children, six of whom were injured, according to the spokesman. At least seven...

In Minya, Egypt, Coptic Christians were terrorized in another attack targeting the minority group on Friday. Islamic militants opened gunfire on two buses carrying Coptic Christians en route to an ancient monastery in Upper Egypt, killing seven and injuring more than eleven. Friday’s attack is one in a series of attacks on Egypt’s ancient Christian community, which currently makes up between 10 and 15 percent of Egypt’s population. Minya has the largest population of Christians in the country — 35 percent of residents are Christians — and experiences a lion’s share of the sectarian attacks. According to Open Doors USA’s...

After a three-year wait and a number of broken promises, the Egyptian Coptic families of 20 men beheaded by IS in Libya in 2015 have finally received their loved ones’ remains. The leader of the Coptic Church, Pope Tawadros II, accompanied by several bishops, priests and deacons, welcomed the 20 coffins at the Cairo airport on Monday evening, 14 May, with prayers and Coptic chants. From there the coffins were transported to the village of Al-Our in Minya province, where the Church of the Martyrs of Faith and Homeland, dedicated to the victims, had been inaugurated in February in anticipation...

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during his Egypt visit. (SPA) Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, visited on Monday Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo’s Abbasiya neighborhood. Prince Mohammed met Coptic Pope Tawadros II at Cairo’s largest Coptic cathedral This marks the first visit of its kind by a senior Saudi official to the seat of the Coptic Orthodox patriarchate

GUNMEN attacked worshippers leaving a Coptic Orthodox church on the southern outskirts of Cairo on Dec. 29, 2017. Subsequently claimed by ISIS, the assault—which took place some 10 minutes after the conclusion of Mass at St. Mina Church—killed nine people. One of the victims was a young mother of 32, Nermeen Sadiq. Her 13-year-old daughter Nesma Wael was at her side when she was shot. Nesma gave the following account of her mother’s death: “After Mass ended, I left the church with my cousin and my mother. My mom wore a cross around her neck, and all three of us...

ICC Note:One of the women who was killed during last week’s brutal terrorist attack against a church in Helwan died protecting her two daughters, aged 11 and 7. According to her daughters, their mother pushed her children to the ground and sheltered them from the bullets of one of the terrorists. The attack on the church occurred a little over a week before the Coptic Orthodox Christmas, which will take place on January 7th. Tensions are high as Christians throughout Egypt prepare for celebrations with the knowledge that terrorists will likely continue to target their churches during this time. 1/01/18...

CAIRO (Reuters) - A gunman killed at least 11 people on Friday in attacks on a Coptic Orthodox church and a Christian-owned shop near Cairo before he was wounded and arrested, the Egyptian interior ministry and church officials said. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, in a statement carried out by its Amaq news agency, though it provided no evidence for the claim. [snip] The Coptic Church said the gunman first shot at a Christian-owned shop 4 km (3 miles) away, killing two people, before proceeding to the Mar Mina church in the southern Cairo suburb of Helwan. The...

Egypt's Coptic Church head Pope Tawadros II and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas will both shun Mike Pence when he visits the Middle East later this month in response to the White House acknowledging Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Pope Tawadros has cancelled a scheduled meeting with Pence in Cairo. He said President Trump's decision 'did not take into account the feelings of millions of Arab people'. 'The Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church declines to receive American Vice President Mike Pence,' the church said in a statement, adding it would pray for 'wisdom and to address all issues that impact peace for the...

The Coptic Christian pope has canceled a meeting with the US vice president in Cairo, in protest against America’s move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Palestinian leader Abbas also snubbed Mike Pence. In a statement released on Saturday, the Coptic Church said it “excused itself from hosting Mike Pence” when he visits Egypt, citing US President Donald Trump’s decision made “at an unsuitable time and without consideration for the feelings of millions of people.” Egypt’s Coptic Church said it would pray for “wisdom and to address all issues that impact peace for the people of the Middle East.” The...

The streams of blood from defenseless Copts massacred by Islamist extremists continue to drench Egypt--with no end in sight. Three more Coptic were found dead in a span of eight days from the last week of June to the first week of July, with a fourth victim killed in late May, World Watch Monitor reported. Even as the Coptic Orthodox Church held another memorial service on July 3 commemorating 40 days since the bus attack in Minya that killed 29 Copts on Ascension Day, hopes for an end to the sectarian killings remain dim. Although the Coptic community has remained...