25 Christians killed in attack during Sunday Mass in
Cairo
(Vatican Radio) A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt’s
main Coptic Christian Cathedral in Cairo on Sunday killed 25 people and wounded
another 49.
The attack, during the celebration of Mass, in one of
the deadliest carried out against the religious minority in recent memory.
The bombing came two days after a bomb elsewhere in Cairo
killed six policemen, an assault claimed by a group that authorities say is
linked to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Islamic militants in Egypt have targeted Christians in the
past, including a New Year's Day bombing at a Church in the city of Alexandria
in 2011 that killed at least 21 people.
Authorities said an assailant lobbed a bomb into a chapel
close to the outer wall of St Mark's Cathedral, seat of Egypt’s Orthodox
Christian Church and home to the office of its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros
II, who is currently visiting Greece.
Speaking after the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square on
Sunday morning, Pope
Francis expressed special closeness to "my dear brother Tawadros
II" and he prayed for the victims of this and other terrorist attacks that
have been perpetrated in the past 24 hours.
Please find below the statement by His Grace Bishop
Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom:
11 December 2016
It is with great sadness that we receive the news today of
at least 25 people brutally murdered by an explosion during regular Sunday
worship at St Peter’s Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo, adjacent to the Grand
Cathedral of Saint Mark.
Our prayers are with those whose lives have been so senselessly ended, those who have been injured, and every family and community affected. We also pray for every Coptic parish and community across Egypt as they fill their churches this morning, as well as for the broader Egyptian society that fall victim to similar inhumane attacks.
Our prayers are with those whose lives have been so senselessly ended, those who have been injured, and every family and community affected. We also pray for every Coptic parish and community across Egypt as they fill their churches this morning, as well as for the broader Egyptian society that fall victim to similar inhumane attacks.
Many within our Coptic community in Britain will have family
and friends in Egypt, and we also pray for them at this time of
uncertainty.
We share in this tragedy but are encouraged by the strength
and resilience of our brethren in Egypt that we have grown accustomed to and
learn from. We pray God’s peace and protection upon the Christians of Egypt,
the broader Egyptian society, Christians around the world worshipping this
morning and all faith communities that fall prey to similar attacks.
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