For the first time, Pope Tawadros II visits Ismailia in a pastoral care visit to deliver his weekly sermon during his participation at the reopen ceremony of New Suez Canal. He will inaugurates the church of St. Paul in the Midtown area with the participation of Bishop Serfaim of Ismailia and a number of bishops and clergy before he returns to Cairo on Thursday.

Monks of St. Macarius of Alexandria monastery, in the valley of Al Rayyan in Fayoum, thanked His Holiness Pope Tawadros II for appointing Bishop Abraam of Fayoum as head and supervisor of the monastery. Bishop Abraam held a meeting with the monks and listened to their problems in order to solve them including the recognition of the monastery as a Coptic property.

For the third time, the Copts of the village of Koum Al-Rahab in the center of Samalut in Minya held a funeral on the streets after police shut down their church last December. Hundreds of worshippers held the rituals of the funeral since they have no place to pray after the closure of their only church.

The Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb and Pope Francis received the human brohterhood s award in Abu Dhabi from UAE Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The prize comes to honor international personalities and institutions who have made sincere efforts to bring people closer together.

Bishops Julius and Ermia, members of the Holy Synod, celebrated the Holy Liturgy at St. Anthony s Cathedral in Abu Dhabi . This came on the sidelines of their participation in the World Conference of Human Brothers from 3-4 February 2019, under the chairmanship of His Holiness Pope Francis, and the Grand Imam Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayeb.

Egyptian military court sentenced 8 people to death penalty after they tried to assassin Egyptian president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and former Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Nayef. The defendants have committed more than 17 terrorist attacks in Egypt and planned to assassin the Egyptian and Saudi leaders during their visit to Mekkah.

The Criminal Court of Minya sentenced the Police man who murdered two Copts in Minya to death penalty and asked for Islamic permission to apply this ruling from the Mufti. Rabie Mostafa Khalifa was accused of murdering two Copts, a man and his son using machine gun and his crime was recorded on surveillance cameras.

The first session of trial of the policeman who assassinated 2 Copts in Minya will be held on February 2 in Minya Criminal Court. The crime was recorded on a surveillance cameras showing the defendant shooting the victims to kill.

Unidentified person on social networking sites published a picture of the kidnapped Coptic man in Arish. The picture shows Adib Yassa talking to a masked man wearing clothes of the Egyptian armed forces. Eye witnesses said that his identification papers showed his Christian identity and therefore he was kidnapped by elements of ISIS.

Hani Ramses, Coptic lawyer, said that meeting of the Supreme Committee to confront sectarian incidents is one right step towards solving the problem since it has summoned the governor of Minya to question him. He added that the governor was accused of giving false information about the closed churches and they hope that the Committee will order the reopening of the closed churches.

The government denied the shut down of 3 churches in Minya this month assuring the 3 claimed places have never applied to the committee to legalize churches according to the law assuring that freedom of worship is supported by the Egyptian constitution. It is worth mentioning that several churches have applied according to the law, but are still closed like churches of Qabbabat and Kafr Waslin in Atfih and five other churches in Esna, Luxor, as well as several churches in Suhag.

Coptic activist Isaac Ibrahim denounce today governmental denial of church existence in Zafrana village assuring it supports the extremists and their attacks on churches. Ibrahim said that Samalout diocese issued a statement yesterday showing that police have shut down 6 churches for more than 15 years, and called all dioceses to issue similar statements to show the closed churches and the real size of the problem.

Bishop Bemen of Qus had undergone an operation following a heart stroke. His health conditions have improved and he is expected to leave hospital in few days.

The deputy of the Monastery of the Virgin Mary the Muharraq in Assiut died today at the age of 75 years after a period of serious illness. His funeral will be held tomorrow at the Moharraq monastery and will be attended by a number of bishops and monks.

Police in Cairo are investigating a terrorist attack by explosives near the church of St. Mary and Abu Sifien in Nasr City, Cairo. An Egyptian explosives expert has been killed while he was attempting to defuse one of three bombs that were stored at a nearby mosque. Imam of the mosque has suspected the packages and reported the Police who moved quickly and sent the expert to defuse the bombs and he defused two of them before the third exploded and killed him.

Public prosecutor was reported against Yassir Borhamy, Vice President of the Salafist Call, over his fatwa to forbid congratulating Christians in their feasts. Borhamy described the Copts as infidels and sharing their feasts is worse than drinking alcohol and committing adultery.

The Board of Directors of the New Urban Communities Authority headed by Egypt’s Prime Minister agreed to allocate three pieces of land in new cities to build three churches of the Orthodox, Evangelical and Catholic Churches. The new churches are located in Nasser City in Assiut and 10th of Ramadan city.

Damanhour Criminal Court decided today to postpone the hearing in Bishop Epiphanius murder to January 27. 3 witnesses of the monks said that the murder weapon was there before it was presented by investigation authorities as murder weapon, which supports the claims of the defendant Wael Saad.

Dr. Manal Awad, Governor of Damietta, witnessed the celebration of the Greek Orthodox Church in the presence of several senior officials of the governorate. She congratulated the Christians on the Western Christmas wishing the best of Egypt and the world in the New Year.

Pope Tawadros II participated at the annual celebration of the Holy Bible Day at the Great Cathedral of St. Mark where the team of Bible House attended his weekly sermon. Pope praised the efforts of the Holy Bible House in Egypt, pointing out that the Coptic Orthodox church is based on the Bible in all its prayers, liturgy and praise.

A policeman is currently being investigated for wishing a Coptic woman a terrorist attack on her church in order to gloat over their grief! Prosecution has ordered his arrest for 15 days and police have apologized for what he said. It is worth mentioning that the policeman was assigned to secure the church of the Saints in Alexandria where a terrorist attack had targeted the church in 2011 killing and wounding dozens of the worshippers.