Melkite patriarch pledges loyalty of Christians to Egypt

(July 05, 2012) Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregorios III has emphasized Egyptian Christians' national loyalty as well as their need for guaranteed human rights, in a letter to Egypt's new president Mohammed Morsi. “I am proud to be an Egyptian citizen and proud that the Melkite Greek Catholic Church is Egyptian too,” wrote the Damascus-based Eastern Catholic patriarch, who has Egyptian citizenship because of his leadership of the Melkite Church in Alexandria. The patriarch pledged Egytian Melkites' abiding loyalty to Egypt, who consider it their country. Patrirch Gregorious congratulated the new president, and implored God to help him govern the nation wisely at a turning point in Egypt’s contemporary history and in the wake of events which the Arab world is going through. Egyptians represent only a fraction of the world's 1.6 million Melkite Catholics. But their presence – alongside Coptic Orthodox, Copic Catholics, and other historic Christian groups – is important, Patriarch Gregorios said. He reminded President Morsi that egalitarian citizenship is the mother of all other freedoms.