VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis joined religious-liberty advocates in voicing grief at the “painful news” of more than 600 deaths and numerous attacks on Christian churches in Egypt’s latest wave of violence. “I wish to ensure my prayers for all the victims and their families, the injured and all those who are suffering,” the Pope said before the Angelus prayer Aug. 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption. “Let us pray together for peace, dialogue and reconciliation in that dear nation and throughout the world.” On Aug. 14, Egyptian security forces broke up the camps of protesters allied with the Muslim Brotherhood. The protesters were demanding President Mohammed Morsi’s restoration to power. Morsi was ousted by the military last month after millions of Egyptians, led by the Tamarod movement, took to the streets demanding his removal. The ensuing clash at the camps killed more than 200 protesters and several dozen policemen. The death toll rose, and at least 638 people were reported killed in violence across Egypt on Aug. 15, as hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members responded by setting fire to a government building near Cairo, the BBC reported. Much of Egypt has been placed under curfew, and Christian churches have come under attack. The Brotherhood has targeted Egypt’s Christians, who supported the Egyptian Army’s decision to side with the June 30 protests and force President Morsi out of power in favor of a new government. In Suez, a convent of the Congregation of the Good Shepherd and the adjacent school and hospital were robbed and set on fire. A Franciscan church was also set ablaze, the Coptic Catholic Patriarchate of Alexandria reported. In the northeastern city of Minya, there was another attack on the Coptic Catholic church of Mar Guirgis, which had previously been attacked by the Muslim Brotherhood. There were fires at a Jesuit church, the Coptic Catholic Church of St. Mark and a convent and school of the Sisters of St. Joseph. In the north-central city of Beni Souef on the Nile River, there was a fire at the Franciscan Convent of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Read more: ncregister/daily-news/pope-francis-mourns-as-christians-die-and-churches-burn-in-egypt/#ixzz2cRmIzP2W
Posted on: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 20:00:06 +0000
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