Egyptian Ambassador to Holy See recalled amid fresh anti-Christian violence: Vatican Press Office clarifies

An off-duty Egyptian policeman shot and killed a 71-year-old Christian man on a train in the southern part of the country. The officer also shot and wounded the elderly man’s wife, and four other Christian women. News of the incident broke late Tuesday afternoon, in the midst of an increase in diplomatic activity surrounding the situation of Christians in the majority-Muslim country.

All of the casualties in Tuesday's attack on the train were Christians.

The shooting incident comes less than two weeks after the suicide bombing of a Coptic church in Alexandria killed 21 people – an attack the drew international condemnation, including from Pope Benedict XVI, who called for equal protection of the rights and property of religious minorities, especially Christians.

The government of Egypt called the Holy Father’s remarks an “unacceptable interference” in the country’s internal affairs, and late yesterday afternoon recalled the country’s ambassador to the Holy See for consultations.

A statement from the Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi says that the Egyptian Ambassador met with the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Dominiique Mamberti Tuesday afternoon.

The statement goes on to say that the ambassador made her government’s concerns known, and also received information and gathered useful elements in order adequately to report to her government on the recent remarks of the Holy Father, particularly regarding religious liberty and the protection of Christians in the Middle East.

The statement says Archbishop Mamberti stressed that the Holy See shares in the pain of the whole Egyptian people in the wake of the attack in Alexandria, and assured the ambassador that the Holy See also completely shares her government’s concern that there be no escalation of religious tensions.

Listen to our report from Charles Collins: