Fr. Lombardi welcomes Imam's appeal for dialogue

Egypt’s religious and civil authorities have roundly condemned the New Years Eve car bomb attack on the All Saints church in Alexandria in which 21 people, mostly Coptic faithful, were killed.

The leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt, Coptic pope Shenouda III of Alexandria was joined Sunday by the Egyptian Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayeb, Egyptian Mufti Ali Gomaa and Egypt’s Minister for Religious Affairs, Mahmud Hamdi Zaqzuq for a joint press conference in Cairo.

Regarding accusations against Pope Benedict XVI of interference expressed by the Imam of AL Azhar, Vatican Press Office director, Fr. Federico Lombardi, states he believes there has been a “misunderstanding in communications”.

Fr Lombardi emphasises the Imam’s call to dialogue and underlines once again Pope Benedict’s repeated and firm opposition to violence against all people.

He adds, “in this case we are talking about targeted violence against a Christian minority. But this in no way means minimising or justifying violence against the faithful of other religions”.

Security sources say seven people are being held for questioning over the New Year's Day bombing of a church in the northern city of Alexandria that left 21 people dead and 100 other wounded.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has pledged to track down the culprits and called for national unity, saying the attack was directed at all Egyptians, not just Christians.

On the ground, extra police officers were posted outside several churches in Cairo and Alexandria today, to protect Christians as they attended Sunday services.

The Coptic Catholic Bishop of Assiut in central Egypt, Bishop William Kyrillos, says the attack was “shocking but predictable”. The bishop confirms that there had been many threats in the run up to the attack, but that the government and security forces were doing “everything in their power to provide security”. Despite this, he adds that many Christians are “terrified this will happen again and so are staying away from the Churches”. Listen: