VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday voiced solidarity with Egypt's Coptic Christians two days after they marked a somber Christmas following a deadly New Year's Day church bombing.
"I salute the Coptic faithful present here to whom I renew my expression of closeness," he told thousands of people gathered on Saint Peter's Square during Sunday Mass.
Following the attack in the northern city of Alexandria which killed 21 people, Vatican official Lorenzo Leuzzi asked Italian lawmakers to participate in the Angelus to show support for religious freedom in the world.
"I salute the group of Italy's parliamentarians present here and I thank them for their commitment...in favor of religious freedom," Benedict told the lawmakers, who came from across the political spectrum.
Several hours after Mass, around one thousand Copts from numerous Italian cities rallied in central Rome to voice support for religious freedom and to denounce terrorism.
"We are here to ask for help … and to show our pain," said Barnaba El Soryany, bishop of the Coptic-Orthodox Diocese in Rome and Turin, who led the demonstration.
Two representatives from an association of young Muslims in Italy who had arrived to offer support for the Copts were kept away from the rally with police citing security reasons.
On Friday, Copts marked a somber Christmas under strong police protection, in the aftermath of the bombing.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which came after threats to Egypt's Copts from the Al-Qaeda-linked group in Iraq that claimed an October 31 attack on a Baghdad church.
