Christians in Egypt are getting used to “this idea that we could be a martyr at any moment”, a spokesman for the nation’s Catholic bishops has said.
Fr Rafic Greiche also lamented the number of children killed in an attack on a bus carrying Coptic Orthodox Christians to St Samuel Monastery in southern Egypt.
At least 26 people, many of them children, were killed when masked assailants attacked the bus. Dozens of others were injured.
Tarek Attia, interior ministry official, told Sky News Arabia that it was “too early to say” who was behind the attack.
He said three cars carrying masked gunmen had attacked the bus on Friday morning in the southern governorate of Minya, a traditional stronghold of Egypt’s Christians.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, sent a message to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, expressing Pope Francis’s prayers and solidarity after the “barbaric attack”.
“Mindful in a particular way of those children who have lost their lives, His Holiness commends the souls of the deceased to the mercy of the Almighty. He assures their grieving families and all who have been injured of his ardent prayers, and he pledges his continued intercession for peace and reconciliation throughout the nation,” the telegram said.
The incident marked the latest in a series of deadly attacks on Coptic Christians. In April Pope Francis urged the country’s Muslim leaders to denounce religious violence, and prayed before a memorial in Cairo marking the place where 29 Christians were killed by a suicide bomber.
ISIS-linked militants abduct priest and churchgoers
Gunmen claiming to have links with ISIS have threatened to kill a priest and about a dozen churchgoers taken hostage in the southern Philippine city of Marawi.President Rodrigo Duterte imposed martial law across the Muslim-majority region of Mindanao as the army battled militants for control of the city.
At the time the Catholic Herald went to press the whereabouts of the hostages were unknown.
Cardinal Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato appealed to Muslim leaders to intercede with the gunmen for the safety of the hostages who were reportedly used as human shields when the militants attacked the city.
The hostages include Fr Teresito Suganob, vicar general of the Prelature of Marawi, and several staff of St Mary’s Cathedral, which was set on fire.
Bishop Edwin de la Peña said he received a call from “a member of Islamic State” who demanded a “unilateral ceasefire” in exchange for the life of the priest and the other hostages. “They want a cease-fire and for the military to give them access out of Marawi,” he said. “Otherwise they will kill the hostages.”
Catholic doctor is honoured
A Catholic medical missionary who is the only doctor in Sudan’s war-ravaged Nuba Mountains has been awarded this year’s Aurora prize.Dr Tom Catena, from New York, serves a region of 750,000 people and treats 500 a day. He received a £78,000 grant and £830,000 to donate to a charity. The Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity was founded on behalf of survivors of the Armenian genocide.
