After an Islamist attempt to halt construction at an Egyptian Orthodox Church in Qalyubiya earlier this week, political groups visited Coptic leaders to express their support and resolve the dispute.

Pope Benedict bid an emotional farewell at his last general audience on Wednesday, saying he understood the gravity of his decision to become the first pontiff to resign in 600 years but that he had done it for the good of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Jihadi Organization, a right-wing Salafi movement, said Wednesday that it is asking citizens to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections because the polls violate Sharia law. Furthermore, anyone who particpates in the elections are infidels.

Dozens of bearded police officers staged a protest Tuesday outside the Interior Ministry headquarters in downtown Cairo, holding banners calling on the ministry to respect a judicial ruling ordering their return to work.

Muslim Brotherhood spokesperson Ahmed Aref said Tuesday that the group is working to ensure its operations and structure are in accordance with laws governing NGOs. The group’s legal committee is also considering changing the Brotherhood’s name to The Comprehensive Islamic Authority.

Sources inside the Muslim Brotherhood said Tuesday that the group's guidance bureau is set to discuss a possible Cabinet reshuffle. The Brotherhood sees the shuffle as a way to assure the public that upcoming parliamentary elections will be transparent and fair.

Ashraf Thabet, a spokesman for the Salafist Nour Party, told Ahram Online on Tuesday, hours before the national dialogue meeting held by the presidency, that the party is seeking to submit several demands in relation to the procedures of the upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled to begin in April.

The three Egyptian churches have excused themselves from the televised national dialogue session called for by President Mohamed Morsy for Tuesday.

Controversial Egyptian Islamist Ahmed Abdullah, known as Abu-Islam, was freed on bail on Monday after he was held in custody for four days on charges of insulting Christianity, a judicial official said.

A group of Islamists surround the Abu Maqar Church in Shubra al-Kheima on Monday in an attempt to stop construction on the church's annex, claiming that the building is not licensed, said sources from the Qalyubiya security department.

The Nour Party said on Monday it would put an end to its criticism of President Mohamed Morsy over the dismissal of his advisor Khaled Alam Eddin, out of appreciation for Morsy and in preparation for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Deputy head of the Salafist Nour Party Bassam El-Zarqa announced on Monday that his party will stand in the parliamentary elections, which are due to start on 22 April.

The Salafi Jihad Movement announced that it's political arm, the Islamic Party, would run in the upcoming House of Representatives elections in alliance with Jama'a al-Islamiya, the Nation Party, Hazemon and the Salafi Front.

"We're told it's a good thing that they decided to change the date of parliamentary elections to avoid their falling on the Easter holidays," said Nabil, a Coptic-Christian silversmith in Cairo's Heliopolis district. "I was really dismayed by the original date, but – let's face it – these aren't the easiest times for Christians."

Hassan Malek, a prominent businessman and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, called on investors to break the state of frustration and artificial despair they face on a daily basis, and focus on working and taking on challenges toward the goal they yearn to achieve.

Aboud El-Zomor, Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya leader and member of the Shura Council, stated Sunday to Ahram Arabic website that "Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya electoral alliances will separate from the Muslim Brotherhood, Freedom and Justice Party, and the Salafist El-Nour Party."

Pope Benedict, speaking in his last Sunday address before becoming the first pope in almost six centuries to step down, said he was following God's wishes and that he was not abandoning the Roman Catholic Church.

The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) will win a majority of seats in upcoming parliamentary elections, the party's media advisor predicts.

Calls from Egypt's opposition to boycott this year's parliamentary elections is considered to be "political bankruptcy" as the voter bloc that will cast ballot for opposition groups is negligible, stated Mohamed Zidan, spokesman of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP).

Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim has denied that a "Brotherhoodization" of the police is underway, and has also said that representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood Guidance Bureau do not attend meetings of the police's supreme council.

Egyptian prosecutors ordered controversial Islamist preacher Abu-Islam Ahmed Abdullah to be held in detention for four days detention pending investigation into an accusation of insulting Coptic Christian women on his TV show.