Egypt's Christians react to new president

Egypt’s new president, Mohammed Morsi, has moved into his new office and has started work on forming a new government. Morsi on Sunday was declared the victor in Egypt’s first presidential run-off.

Father Rafic Greiche, the spokesman for Egypt’s Catholic Coptic Church, spoke to Vatican Radio about the reaction of Christians to the election. He said the situation in Egypt is “complicated.” Many Christians, he said, had voted for Morsi’s opponent, Ahmed Shafiq, who had promised a secular government. Father Greiche says Christians are concerned that Islamist groups will attempt to impose some form of sharia law. “All the Christians are afraid that they will apply the sharia… as they interpret it. So the Christians are not happy, they fell insecure.”

He says Christians hope that Morsi will fulfil the promises he made as a candidate. “We hope that, (Morsi) will bring the laws that the Christians want, like the building of the churches, or the laws for the Christian family, or not to have discrimination in the positions or in the government. These were promises, now we have to see if he will apply what he promised.”

Father Greiche says it is important to pray for his country: “I hope you pray for us, you pray for Egypt. Because this phase is not ended by having a president . . . We want to have a constitution, we want that the law prevails, and that the law be applied to everybody, starting from the president to anybody.”

Listen to the full interview of Father Rafic Greiche with Christopher Wells: