Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Cairo (Agenzia Fides) - “In Egypt there are various issues which will need to be addressed sooner or later, one of which regards relations between Christians and Muslims,” Fr Luciano Verdoscia tells Fides, the Comboni missionary operating out of Cairo, after the arson attack on a Coptic church in Atfih, in Helwan, in the course of incidents erupting due to a feud between two families. At the origin of the violence is the relationship between a young Coptic man and a Muslim girl. Hundreds of Christians protested in Tahrir Square in Cairo, for the church to be rebuilt and justice to be carried out, also because many Christians have fled frightened by the violent atmosphere.
“Relations between people of different faiths are forbidden, by both sides,” said the missionary. “This is the product of a culture that has settled over the past 30 years, which has intensified the division between the two communities. There is distrust at the heart of the population and even hatred on both sides. There are Muslims who think that inside the churches and monasteries there are any hidden weapons. Imaginative ideas are probably circulated widely by some and, for others, they become absolute truth. These attitudes are symptomatic of a mentality and of a divide which has increased between the two communities over the past 30 years.”
“Some hypothesise,” continues Fr Luciano, “that there are fundamentalist groups behind these incidents. But I think that behind everything is this culture, certainly encouraged by the spread of an increasingly fanatical Islam, which was often the only answer to a situation of growing poverty, which led to exacerbating religious divisions.”
Fr Luciano is still cautiously optimistic that “these issues will be addressed in the near future. We are currently trying not to create a “fitna”, that is a crisis between the various areas of Egyptian society, because new forces are emerging that are still faced with the old powers. We therefore need to overcome this transition phase without creating further crisis. But these divisions are present and need to be addressed. It will take time, however, to change the mentality. We hope that the Middle East will take a more democratic and more tolerant path.”
In this context we can not completely exclude the presence of forces that seek to inflame souls. “Evidence appears to be emerging on the involvement of the secret police in the attack in Alexandria, according to what has been published by the Egyptian newspapers,” says Fr Luciano, remembering the assault on the offices of Amn el Dawla (State Security) by a crowd of demonstrators who stole several documents. “In their offices there is information about the repression, torture, and files collected on opponents and intellectuals not aligned with the former regime. This will certainly be a story to be followed carefully,” concludes the missionary. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 7/3/2011)
