Catholic Church official in Egypt urges Christians to remain in country
November 26, 2013 - Egypt's Christians should stay in their country and help it progress
instead of taking "the easy way" of emigrating abroad, said a senior member of the
country's Catholic Church. Father Rafic Greiche, head of the Catholic Church press
office in Egypt, expressed concern to Catholic News Service last week that hundreds
of thousands of Christians have left for other countries since 2011, when a popular
revolution ended the nearly 30-year secular rule of former autocratic president, Hosni
Mubarak. Those who are leaving "are the most educated," Father Greiche said in an
interview. "We need them to invest, not only their money but also their energy and
as Christians they have the duty to be missionaries in their own country." Since Mubarak's
ouster Egypt has witnessed military rule, the rise of democratically-elected Islamist
president Mohamed Morsi and then his overthrow by the military in July after millions
of Egyptians protested his leadership. An interim government installed by the military
now rules. Father Greiche said foreign embassies in Egypt reported that as many as
300,000 Christians had left the country so far, but that the exact number was hard
to confirm because many of those leaving had second passports and did not inform the
church that they were emigrating. (Source: CNS)