IMAGE: CNS photo/Mohamed Hossam, EPA
By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope
Francis phoned Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria Dec. 12,
expressing his prayers and condolences for the previous day’s terrorist attack
at the Cairo cathedral that left 25 people dead.
“We are united in the
blood of our martyrs,” the pope told the Orthodox patriarch, according to
a Vatican statement.
The patriarch thanked Pope
Francis for his closeness at such a sad time and asked his continued prayers
for the Copts and for peace in Egypt, the statement said.
On a December weekend
bloodied by terrorist attacks in Egypt and Turkey, Pope Francis condemned the
violence and urged people to hold fast to their faith and renew their
commitment to upholding basic human values.
After reciting the Angelus
Dec. 11, Pope Francis offered prayers for the “victims of savage terrorist
attacks” in Egypt, which also wounded dozens, and Dec. 10 in Istanbul,
which killed close to 40 people, mainly police.
“The places are
different, but the violence is the same,” Pope Francis said. In response
to the “death and destruction,” there is only one response:
“faith in God and unity in human and civil values.”
The pope also told the crowd
in St. Peter’s Square that each day in prayer he is close to the people of the
besieged city of Aleppo, Syria.
“We must not forget that
Aleppo is a city and that there are people there: families, children, elderly,
sick,” he said. “Unfortunately we have become used to the war and
destruction, but we must not forget that Syria is a country full of history,
culture and faith. We cannot allow this to be negated by war, which is a pile
of abuse and falsity.”
Around the world, Christians
reacted to the bombing at St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral complex with
messages of condolences.
In Washington, Cardinal
Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops, noted that St. Mark himself was no stranger to the
persecution of Christians.
“Those who gathered to
worship the Lord at his cathedral this morning in Cairo are family to us,”
he said in a Dec. 11 statement. “We draw near to our Coptic brothers and
sisters in prayer, sorrow and comfort. And we are confident in the healing
power of our Lord Jesus Christ. The lives lost strengthen the faith of
Christians everywhere and offer a testament to the great privilege of
worshiping God in peace.
He, too, referred to attacks
in other countries.
“This weekend has
witnessed the darkness of violence reach into many places, including Turkey,
Somalia and the church building collapse in Nigeria. But the light still
shines! Today let us offer a special prayer for all those facing
persecution,” he said.
Egyptian Catholics were quick
to condemn Sunday’s church attack.
“Our heart is with
Patriarch Tawadros II … and our brother church, and we wish for goodness in
Egypt, and call on the heads of state to quickly bring those responsible to
justice,” said official spokesman of Egypt’s Catholics, Father Rafic
Greiche.
Father Greiche called the
attack “a cowardly, terrorist act on a house of God,” adding that
“the church in our country is suffering due to the murder and spilling of
blood of innocents.”
His statements appeared on
Church of Alexandria, an official website of Egypt’s Coptic Catholic Church,
which accounts for a tiny percentage of the country’s larger Coptic Orthodox
minority.
On the same site, Coptic
Catholic Bishop Butros Fahim Awad Hanna also condemned the attack and addressed
those behind it.
“We tell the terrorist
that no matter what you do, Christians will remain steadfast in their faith and
in adherence to their country, Egypt” said Bishop Fahim, whose province of
Minya is a traditional Christian stronghold in the predominantly Muslim North
African nation.
Egyptian TV showed horrific
images of the attack’s aftermath: toppled pews and floors stained and covered
in blood.
“I thought it was
Judgment Day,” said 59-year-old Magdi Ramzi, who was in the back of the
church at the time of the explosion.
“It was the loudest
noise I have ever heard,” he told the Egyptian TV program “90
Minutes.”
The bomb, which reportedly
detonated in the women-only section of the church, killed his wife, and gravely
wounded his granddaughter who was fighting for her life in a Cairo hospital,
Ramzi said.
In an address at the Dec. 12
funeral for victims of the attack, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi
called for three days of mourning.
He said a 22-year-old suicide
bomber was behind the attack. The president also said four people, including
one woman, had been arrested, for alleged involvement the attack, and that two
more people were being sought.
In
Jerusalem, Wadie Abunassar, director of the Media Committee of the Assembly of
Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land, called the attacks “barbaric.”
“I was contacting my
Turkish friends to express my solidarity with them after (Saturday night’s)
attack when I got the news about the explosion inside the church (Sunday
morning.) Surely those who are responsible for such barbaric attacks do not
know who God is and what his messages are,” he said.
Father Antonious Aloshlemey,
general secretary of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, expressed
condolences about the attack.
“We are not afraid, but
this is something barbaric and inhuman, to do an attack against people who just
love the church and God and who came to worship on Sunday,” he said.
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Contributing to this story
were Judith Sudilovsky in Jerusalem and James Martone in Washington.
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