Cardinal Kasper Stresses Solidarity with Coptic Orthodox

(January 9, 2010) Six Coptic Orthodox Christians and a Muslim security guard were killed while leaving Christmas Midnight Mass in a drive-by shooting Wednesday evening in Nag Hammadi. This year's Christmas, which was observed Thursday by many Orthodox Churches, was marked with tragedy as the community held a funeral procession for the victims. Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, sent a letter Friday to Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Shenouda III of Alexandria and the See of St. Mark, expressing solidarity with the community. "All Christians must be united in face of oppression and, together, seek the peace that only Christ can give," the cardinal wrote. "Every time our Christians suffer unjustly, it is a wound to the Body of Christ that all of us believers share," he added. The victims included a 14-year-old adolescent, a couple, and young men in their 20s. Nine other Christians leaving the Mary Gergis Church on Wednesday night were injured as three men with automatic weapons shot into the crowd from a car. The Egyptian Interior Ministry has reported that the lead assailant was identified by witnesses as Mohamed Ahmed Hussein, a Muslim with a criminal record. Cardinal Kasper wrote to the Coptic community, "Together, we share this sadness, and together we pray for healing, peace and justice." He assured the Coptic pope, "Please, know that I am united in prayer to Your Holiness and to the Coptic Christian community at this time."