Cairo, 16 Nov 2013: As debate rages in Egypt on the new Constitution and the recognition
of full citizenship to the Copts , the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros has ordained
18 new priests who will serve in parishes especially in Cairo. The ordination ceremony
was held on November 14 at the Cathedral of St. Mark in Cairo in front of thousands
of people. Among the ordained only one priest will go abroad in the Diocese of St.
Mark in Chicago (USA), home to a large majority of the Coptic community in the Diaspora
with over 184 parishes.
Since his election on 5 November 2012, Tawadros II
has ordained a total of 38 priests and two bishops. This month's ordinations come
at a critical period for the plight of Christians in Egypt . They are the first after
the major attacks against the religious minority at the hands of Islamists. Between
14 and 17 August extremists have destroyed at least 80 churches and two hundred religious
and private buildings. On November 22 , extremists opened fire on the faithful of
the Coptic Orthodox Church of al- Waaraq ( Giza ) killing four people , including
a girl of only 8 years of age.
The authorities of the Coptic Church , which
represents almost all of the 9 million Egyptian Christians, issued a statement marking
the ordinations, reaffirming the need to give full rights to the Christian minority,
which suffers from severe restrictions compared to the Muslim majority. On November
10 , representatives of the Coptic community organized a conference to put pressure
on the Constituent Assembly to recognize representation in parliament for the Copts,
threatening not to support the drafting of the new Constitution. Source: AsiaNews