Bishop Raphael, former secretary of the Holy Synod, visited Austria for treatment. It is decided that he will undergo a surgery on his knee. This came after his pastoral care visit to Rome last month.

Abba Epraim Isaac, the Catholic Patriarch of Egypt, and Abba Prono Mozaro, ambassador of the Vatican opened the Cave church of the Holy Family in Matareya. The church lies next to St. Mary’s tree which was used by the holy family to protect them from direct sun.

Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark See, is celebrating the visit of the Holy Family to Egypt by following its steps in Ept from Farama to Wadil Natroun. The journey includes 25 stations and aims to document the historical visit and encourage tourists to visit the holy places.

Father Rofael Sami, Coptic priest, said that several Coptic girls disappeared thanks to the cooperation between Islamization groups of girls and fanatic officials in the government whom offer help to these groups. He added that the church has to raise awareness on that account and police have to protect the targeted Copts, especially as those groups are working for foreign organizations.

Mariam Girges, Coptic woman who was kidnapped in Sharabia neighborhood in Cairo, could escape from her captors. Her family said that she was kidnapped by three women and a man who took her to Alexandria where they detained her and stole her jewelry. Later, Mariam was able to escape and returned to her family.

A Coptic minor girl called Mariam Maggy was kidnapped by a rickshaw driver and a group of women wearing niquab in Zeiton gardens, Cairo. Police were reported and the matter is under investigation.

Mokhtar Nouh, former leader of the Muslims Brotherhood, said he has information that will be revealed on time about the Islamization plan of Coptic monitor girls. He added that enemies of Egypt plan to destroy the relationship between Muslims and Christians. Nouh explained that Coptic Christians for centuries have tolerated a lot for the sake of their homeland and now are facing plans to force their daughters into Islam.

UBS Switzerland s Zurich-based bank named Cairo the cheapest city in the world. His came in an annual report by the bank, which includes 77 urban cities. In the report Zurich remains the most expensive city in the world followed by Geneva and Oslo.

Abba Bacilious, bishop of St. Samuel monastery headed the prayers at the place of the terrorist attack where dozens of Copts were shot dead. 28 Copts including children were killed as they were heading to visit the monastery.

Abba Arsanious, bishop of Minya and Abba Makarios, general Bishop of Minya, ordained 5 new priests at the diocese. The new priests are fathers Hanania Moris, Besada Thabet, Anthon Atef, Lucas Flimon and Yaccoub Saad. The new priests headed to Paramous monastery at Wadil Natroun to spend 40 days of spiritual retreat according to the Coptic ritual.

The Egyptian Cabinet permitted the building of a Catholic church in the new administrative capital and dedicated a piece of land for that purpose. The construction of the new church will start soon and sources expected that the three Christian communities will have churches in the new administrative capital.

In the context of renewal of religious discourse, Dr. Shawki Allam, Egypt s Mufti, corrected the misconceptions used by the extremist and terrorist groups of Islam. He said that Koran calls for co-existence with non-Muslims and when killing the unbelievers was mentioned it meant specific unbelievers in certain situation and not a general rule.

Agaibi family in Luxor started holding banquets for Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan and helps the poor to get their daughter marry. The Coptic family is known for its charity works for Muslims and Christians and they have built a mosque in their village.

Abba Ibrahim Isaac, Patriarch of the Catholic Coptic church, received a delegation from the Caritas Association, aimed at improving the human condition and everyone. Caritas International is a confederation of 165 Catholic relief, development and social service organizations operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide. Collectively and individually their claimed mission is to work to build a better world, especially for the poor and oppressed.

Bishop Daniel of Maadi was elected as Secretary General of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

Armin Lachit, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, called for the official recognition of Islam in Germany.

Father Rofael Smay, the Secretary of the Egyptian Family House branch in Fayoum, said that the return of the remains of the Coptic martyrs in Libya to their hometown in Egypt is a message to the whole world that Egypt takes good care of her children. He added that the state has exerted great efforts to return the remains of these martyrs to be a great blessing to its land.

Dozens of Copts are visiting the shrine of the martyrs of Libya in Aour village, Minya, amid tight security measures. The relics of the martyrs were put yesterday at their shrine in the church of the Martyrs of Faith and the Homeland after they were transferred from Libya to Egypt.

Spanish newspapers have highlighted the continued campaign of ISIS terrorist organization against Christian communities and publishing threats to Pope Francis. This came after series of bombings against three Catholic churches in one of the cities Indonesia which was carried out by a number of suicide bombers killing at least 13 people.

Sources in the Coptic Orthodox Church said the next session of the Holy Synod will witness changes in church leaders. Sources expected that Abba Daniel, Bishop of Maadi will take responsibilities of the General Secretary of the Holy Synod while Abba Markos, Bishop of Qubba Gardens have taken the responsibly of the Clerical council .

Al-Azhar condemned the terrorist attacks on three churches in the city of Surabaya, Indonesia killing and injuring dozens of Christians. Statement of Al-Azhar stressed that such criminal acts are abhorred by all religions and humanitarian principles including Islam.