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...

All throughout last week, some five or six Coptic churches in Egypt have “caught fire”— ... the Church of Abu Seifein (named after Saint Mercurius of Caesarea, who is revered by the Copts). At least 41 Christians — 18 of whom were children — were either burned alive, killed by asphyxiation, or ... Considering that Muslims have torched or bombed hundreds of Coptic churches over the decades in Egypt — and often when churches are packed — it is, of course, difficult to resist that explanation. Moreover, this last week was the “anniversary” of when Muslim Brotherhood sympathizers torched 62...

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...

Who then appear in videos wrapped in hijabs, saying they “willingly” embraced Islam and don't want to be searched for. Two stories of Coptic Christian women disappearing off the streets of Egypt that surfaced around the same time in the month of Ramadan, April, 2022, are a testimony to the ongoing prevalence of this phenomenon. On April 11, Simone Adel Isaac, a 15-year-old Coptic girl, disappeared. Her parents immediately carried out an extensive investigation, including by questioning her friends, until they determined that the brother of one of her Muslim schoolmates was behind her disappearance. The parents provided police with...

It was the greatest puzzle in the world. For three thousand years the ancient Egyptians covered the walls and ceilings of their temples and tombs with a form of writing known as hieroglyphs. More, the bone-dry climate of Egypt had preserved vast quantities of this hieroglyphic text written on papyrus. And in 1800, no one on earth could read a word of it. When Egypt became Christian in the fourth century A.D., the use of these hieroglyphs, associated with paganism, died out. The last known hieroglyphic inscription was chiseled into stone in the year 394. Within a generation, the last...

A Coptic Orthodox church in British Columbia was destroyed in a fire on Monday, July 19, just days after an attempted arson attack damaged the church’s door. Local police said they were alerted to a fire at St. George Coptic Orthodox Church in Surrey around 3:17 a.m. on Monday. By the time the fire was extinguished, the building was almost entirely demolished and only a single wall was left standing. No one was reported injured in the fire. “While today is a day of sadness, we will not be deterred and we will rebuild,” said Bishop Mina of the Coptic...

Because our media establishment is total garbage, you probably haven't heard about this: Though barely mentioned in US media, 48 Christian churches in Canada have been vandalized or burned down in the past two months…Much of the arson appears linked to white progressives...” Heartbreaking, important story getting almost no coverage in U.S... Canada's churches are burning. Trudeau shrugs.. Yes, 48 churches in Canada have either been vandalized or set on fire in just TWO MONTHS. Here's one of them: Having a hard time processing this right now. The historic & beautiful St Jean Baptist’s parish in Morinville burned to the...

Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article was first published by the Gatestone Institute. The kidnapping, sexual abuse, and forced conversion of Christian women and girls in Egypt—a “particularly vulnerable group to exploitation” that is quietly living an “unimaginable nightmare”—is rampant with no signs of abatement.  This is the finding of a report published on September 10, 2020 by Coptic Solidary (CS), an international organization based in Washington D.C., that works to promote equal citizenship rights for Egypt’s Christian minority.  In its 15-page report, titled “‘Jihad of the Womb’: Trafficking of Coptic...

RAIR Foundation A Coptic Christian woman, Ranya Abd al-Masih (“servant of Christ”), 39, disappeared in Egypt on April 22, 2020, only to resurface days later in a recorded video. The beloved mother was forced to dress in a black niqab in the video, claim she converted to Islam, and express she did not want any contact with her husband, three children, or family members anymore. A few days after her family alerted Egyptian state security, of her disappearance, a disturbing video of the devout Christian mother covered in oppressive sharia garb and pledging her allegiance to Islam emerged. Ranya claims...

I send my best wishes for a peaceful and blessed celebration to the millions of Coptic Christians in the United States and around the world observing Global Coptic Day.Last year marked the first annual Global Coptic Day—an opportunity for the world to mark the contributions, legacy, and ongoing challenges facing the largest Christian group in the Middle East.  This year, as we celebrate the second annual Global Coptic Day, we recognize the vital role faith, prayer, and service have in our lives, especially as we continue to face the challenges posed by the novel coronavirus pandemic.  We join with...

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...

First Institute of Coptic Studies Inaugurated at University of AlexandriaWith an unprecedented initiative, Egyptian political institutions have decided to invest resources to support the opening of institutes, centers, and departments in public universities dedicated to the study and enhancement of the Coptic language and cultural heritage, according to Fides News Agency. The first institute of Coptic Studies was already inaugurated at the University of Alexandria, in collaboration with the Coptic Orthodox Church. A similar initiative is being undertaken at the faculty of artistic studies of the University of Damanhour. Even the buildings intended to house these institutions have been designed,...

Middle Eastern Christians have endured a long and violent history at the hands of radical Muslims. At the turn of the 20th century, Christians made up 20 percent of the population in the Middle East. Today, that number is only 3-5 percent. "Christians have been harassed in more countries than any other religious group and have suffered harassment in many of the heavily Muslim countries of the Middle East and North Africa," says the Pew Research Center's Katayoun Kishi. By 2050, it is estimated Christians will compose 3 percent or less of the population of the Middle East with Muslims...

The Easter Liturgy of the Coptic Orthodox Church (Arabic & Coptic appx 4:15 hrs)

CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Coptic Pope Tawadros II at Cairo’s largest Coptic cathedral on Monday in what state media said was an unprecedented visit by an official from the conservative Muslim kingdom. The visit was part of a three-day stay in Egypt for Prince Mohammed, his first public trip abroad since he became heir apparent last year. He will head for Britain and the United States later this month. Cairo and Riyadh have strengthened ties in recent years and Egypt has received billions of dollars in aid from its rich Gulf Arab ally....

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...

FULL TITLE: Nine people are killed at a Coptic Christian church in Cairo before police shoot dead gunman and capture a second attacker Gunmen have killed at least nine people after opening fire at the entrance of a Coptic Christian church in Egypt this morning. Two attackers went on the rampage outside Mar Mina church south of the capital Cairo before one of them was shot dead as he tried to storm the building. The church was being guarded by police in the run-up to Orthodox Christmas celebrations next week. A picture of the gunman's corpse showed a bearded man...

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...

Biblical scholars have discovered the first-known original Greek copy of an ancient forbidden Christian text that purportedly describes Jesus’ secret teachings to his “brother” James, an early leader of the Church. Geoffrey Smith and Brent Landau, religious studies scholars at The University of Texas at Austin, located the rare text in Oxford University archives earlier this year. The experts found several fifth- or sixth-century A.D. Greek fragments of the First Apocalypse of James, one of the books from an ancient collection known as the Nag Hammadi library. Previously, the text was thought to be preserved only via translations in the...

For Abba Estiganous, bishop of Beba, religion is behind the murder of "martyr" Sam'an Shehata. His murderer, Mohamed Sonbaty, attacked his own relatives in the past and set fire to their home. For neighbours, he is a known radical. The Catholic Church shares the pain and offers prayers. Cairo (AsiaNews) – The killer of Saman Shehata, a Coptic Orthodox priest stabbed to death last Thursday, is well known to law enforcement. His name is Mohamed Sonbaty, said Abba Estiganous, Bishop of Beba, in a statement released today on the priest's "martyrdom". The lethal attack appears to be religious in motivation....