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Officials said that Pope Tawadros II was inside at the time of attack but was not harmed. According to the Associated Press, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility on Sunday for the attacks. Pope Francis reacted to the news during his Sunday address. “May the Lord convert the hearts of those who sow fear, violence and terror,” Pope Francis said after celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Square, reading from a note handed to him, to which he added: “And that of those who produce and sell weapons.”

The ISIS terror group has claimed responsibility for two separate Palm Sunday bombing attacks at Coptic Christian churches in Egypt that have killed 37 people and injured more than 100. The first blast happened at St. George church in the Nile Delta town of Tanta, where at least 26 people were killed and 71 others wounded, officials said. Television footage showed the inside of the church, where a large number of people gathered around what appeared to be lifeless, bloody bodies covered with papers. A second explosion was later reported at St. Mark's Cathedral in the coastal city of Alexandria,...

Deadly blast hits church in Egyptian city of Tanta

Pope Francis will make a trip to Egypt next month, the Vatican said on Saturday, giving the pontiff another opportunity to promote better relations between Catholics and Muslims. Francis has accepted an invitation to Cairo on April 28-29 from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Catholic bishops, the pope of the Coptic church of Alexandria and the country’s highest Islamic authority, Al-Azhar, the Vatican said in a statement. Christians, mostly Orthodox Copts, account for about 10 percent of Egypt’s population, which is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim. Sectarian violence sometimes erupts over disputes on issues related to church building, religious conversions and interfaith relationships....

A priest says 1,000 Christians have fled, with some receiving threats on their mobile phones Hundreds of Christians have fled the city of el-Arish in Egypt after a spate of attacks by suspected Islamic militants. A priest told the Associated Press that he and some 1,000 other Christians had fled for fear of being targeted next. He blamed lax security, saying: “You feel like this is all meant to force us to leave our homes. We became like refugees.” It was earlier reported that militants had shot dead a Coptic Christian man, Kamel Youssef, in front of his wife and...

A Coptic Christian man was shot in the head while his son was burned alive in El-Arish, North Sinai, just days after Islamic State-affiliates called believers their "favorite prey." Al-Ahram reports that the father, 65-year-old Saad Hana, and his son, 45-year-old Medhat, were found by Egyptian security officials on Wednesday. Authorities told The Associated Press that the father was shot in the head, while the son appeared to have been abducted and burned alive.

Islamic State published a video on Sunday threatening Egyptian Christians and showing the last statement of a man it said was responsible for the deadly bombing in December of a Coptic cathedral in Cairo. The masked man in battle-dress, whom the group identified as Abu Abdallah al-Masri, is seen encouraging militants all over the world not to give up and promising Islamists jailed in Egypt they will be freed soon, when the group "liberates" Cairo. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had already identified the bomber as a 22-year-old student called Mahmoud Shafik, and it is believed Abu Abdallah al-Masri was his...

Christians in Egypt are mourning after another believer was murdered in Egypt, the fifth killing in less than two weeks. Ishak Ibrahim Fayez Younan, 37, was found dead by his brother at the victim's temporary residence in the old part of Cairo, the capital. He leaves behind a grieving wife and two children, ages 10 and 12, Christians said. Ishak's death bears similarities with the other slain Christians who each had their throat cut, while money and other valuables were left behind, according to Christians familiar with the situation. Egypt police reportedly said that robbery was the motive ... The...

Cairo (Agenzia Fides) - It will be the largest Coptic Church of Egypt, it will be inaugurated by 2018 in the new capital which is being built on the margin of Cairo's metropolis, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi will be among its direct sponsors. The announcement of the project was given by the same al Sisi on the occasion of his participation in the Christmas liturgy in the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo, celebrated by Patriarch Tawadros II. Egyptian President said he had destined 100 thousand Egyptian pounds in the first funding initiative, which involves the construction at...

The worst attack on Egypt's Christian minority in recent years occurred yesterday, Sunday, December 11, 2016. St. Peter Cathedral in Cairo, packed with worshipers celebrating Sunday mass, was bombed; at least 27 churchgoers, mostly women and children, were killed and 65 severely wounded. As many of the wounded are in critical condition, the death toll is expected to rise. As usual, witnesses say that state security was not present, and that police took an inordinate amount of time to arrive after the explosion. Preliminary investigations point to a bomb placed inside an unattended woman's purse on one of the rear...

CAIRO (AP) — A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral killed 25 people and wounded another 49 during Sunday Mass, in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. [Snip] "I found bodies, many of them women, lying on the pews. It was a horrible scene," said cathedral worker Attiya Mahrous, who rushed to the chapel after he heard the blast. His clothes and hands were stained with blood and his hair matted with dust. "I saw a headless woman being carried away," Mariam Shenouda said as she pounded...

Residents of the Coptic neighborhood in central Yaffo continue their protest on Sunday against the construction of a religious Jewish school in Yaffo saying that they object to “The settlers' conquest,” according to the Arabic newspaper, Falastin. A member of neighborhood council, Yosef Asfur, told the newspaper that the residents of the neighborhood are protesting against the settlers who came to the neighborhood with the support of the government. According to Asfur, if the municipality won’t listen to the loud call against the “settlers,” they will succeed in in fulfilling their goal of creating a Jewish religious school in Yaffo,...

In a video posted on her Facebook page on September 21, New York-based Egyptian-American activist Ayat Oraby called the Coptic church "a gang, striving to establish a Coptic mini-state," and "a full-fledged mafia," and described Pope Tawadros as "a criminal." Oraby called upon Muslims to participate in an economic boycott of Copts, saying that: "They must be made to understand that the crescent must be on top of the cross."

In a lengthy and disturbing piece on Egypt’s Coptic Christians this week, Rod Nordland of the New York Times described them as a community at the “breaking point,” to borrow the words of Bishop Makarios of Minya. This is not what a casual consumer of Egyptian news would expect, and it is not what the Copts expected, either. Nordland writes of high hopes for protection after the Muslim Brotherhood government of Mohammed Morsi was topped by the current Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is often given solid marks by foreign observers for his stance against Islamist oppression. Egypt’s Christians...

CAIRO (AP) — The leader of Egypt's Coptic Christian church warned on Monday of increased attacks on Christians, saying national unity is being "defaced." In a meeting with lawmakers, Pope Tawadros II said that since 2013 there have been 37 sectarian attacks on Christians — nearly an incident a month. He describes the situation as "very painful." He told lawmakers that preserving national unity is "our responsibility in front of the world, future generations, history and in front of God." His remarks were published on his personal website. The Pope's website also quoted lawmaker Saad el-Gammal as saying that parliament...

A video, which was posted on YouTube on July 22 and and which circulated on social media, shows a Muslim mob throwing stones at families in the village of Saft Al-Kharsa in the Beni Suef governorate. The video was shot from the balcony of one of the Coptic families. According to reports, the attacks followed the Friday sermons at the local mosques and were instigated by rumors that Copts had converted their homes into churches. albawaba.com reported that the tension started when security forces apprehended Ishaq Fahim, a Copt whose home was used as a church since the nearest church...

Christian homes and property have been attacked by a Muslim mob in Egypt over rumours a house under construction was being turned into a church. A large group of Muslims gathered around the house, owned by Coptic Christian Naim Aziz, in Qarayat al Bayda village near Alexandria after Friday prayers on June 17, chanting: "By no means shall there be a church here". "A great deal of fanatic Muslims gathered in front of the new house of my cousin, Naim Aziz, during its construction because of a rumour spread in the village that this building would be turned into a...

A Muslim mob torched and looted the homes of 80 Christian families in the Al-Beida village in Egypt, looking to punish them for wanting to turn one of the buildings in the village into a church so they can worship. One witness, Christian resident Mousa Zarif, recalled the events: "On Friday afternoon, following Friday noon prayer, a great deal of fanatic Muslims gathered in the front of the new house of my cousin, Naim Aziz, during its construction because of a rumor spread in the village that this building would be turned into a church."

A mob of over a thousand Islamic extremists attacked a Christian village destroying property and setting the homes of over 80 families ablaze over rumors that a Coptic man was converting a home into a church. The attacks, which took place Friday in Egypt’s Qaryat Al-Bayda village, near Alexandria, left two Copts seriously injured and resulted in thousands of dollars worth of damage, according to a Coptic activist. "A great deal of fanatic Muslims gathered in front of the new house of my cousin," Mousa Zarif, a Christian who witnessed the events, told Christian advocacy group International Christian Concern.

Vatican’s ecumenism comes at the expense of Egypt’s human rights Pope Francis, who is “building bridges to build peace” around the world, has naturally reached out to embrace Sunni Muslims. Last month, for the first time after years of Vatican silence, Pope Francis summoned to his private library in Rome grand imam Ahmed El-Tayeb of Cairo’s Al-Ahzar Mosque Institute. Absent a press release before this event, the Pope was quoted as saying, “this meeting is the message” – leading all to dwell on the meaning and purpose of their 25 minutes together. Christians, especially Egyptian Coptic Christians, have observed the...