Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Cairo (Agenzia Fides) - The Egyptian House of the Family (an interreligious liaison body established for several years to prevent and mitigate sectarian conflicts) promoted a training course on the urgent needs of Christian families in Cairo from 24 to 26 June, who among the speakers and among the auditors recorded the qualified participation of scholars of the Sunni University of Al-Azhar and members of the clergy of different Christian denominations present in Egypt. In the working groups the different causes of the weakening of family ties were taken into consideration, including the inaction of the father figure and the growing dependence on digital media that affects not only children and adolescents, but also adults.
During the works - reports the Egyptian website Copts Today - the speakers also outlined the most useful practices and methods for safeguarding the solidity of family relationships, so that the family is recognized by everyone and perceived as an indispensable reality in order to allow free and responsible personalities to mature, able to offer positive contributions also to social coexistence and the civil life of the nation.
In January 2017 (see Fides, 27/1/2017), the same Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi had underlined the urgency of countering the rampant practice of "verbal divorce", with which Muslim men can break the conjugal bond with their own spouses with a simple verbal declaration. At the time Al Sisi referred to data from the National Statistical Office, according to which about 40% of the 900,000 marriages registered each year in Egypt end in divorce within five years. In his speech, al Sisi had foreshadowed the proposal to consider a divorce legal only if it occurs in the presence of a "maazun", a religious representative authorized by the government to sanction both marriages and divorces. In this way - the Egyptian President hoped to avoid the widespread phenomenon of marital ties interrupted also for simple discussions and trivial reasons. (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 27/6/2019)
ASIA/HOLY LAND - A theatre, a swimming pool, a football field to educate about peace
ASIA/HOLY LAND - Stop any form of revenge
EUROPE/RUSSIA - Document of the Synodal Biblical-Theological Commission of the Moscow Patriarchate in response to the Declaration "Fiducia supplicans"
ASIA/IRAQ - Chaldean Patriarch Sako: Holy Week is "the time we need"
ASIA/CHINA - Marriage “without dowry” and birth support: Chinese Catholic communities face new challenges for families
AFRICA/DR CONGO - President of the Bishops' Conference: “Here too, families are in crisis and children are left to their fate as 'street children'”
EUROPE/RUSSIA - The Church promotes the evangelical perspective of reconciliation, on a social and international level
AFRICA/EGYPT - Approval of the law on the personal status of Christians and family law is imminent
ASIA/SRI LANKA - Cardinal Ranjith: "The situation in the country is difficult, the Church is committed to the common good"
ASIA/CHINA - Journalism "from below". The network of Catholic media and communicators at the service of the mission is growing