Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

In 1980, Mīrīt Ghālī, minister of Municipal and Villages Affairs in the first government after the 1952 Revolution, called, in a memorandum, for the necessity to reform the situation among the Church’s leaders. He also referred to the gap between Muslims and Christians, due to a lack of discourse between the two parties. In the early 1980s, Lawyer Hannā Narūz, a parliamentary member, submitted a memorandum to the prime minister regarding some Coptic complaints.  He pointed out that Copts are not troublemakers and their fasting and cancellation of Easter celebrations was aimed at forcing officials to take quick actions to eliminate sectarian strife. The memorandum referred to the suffering of Copts, and mentioned that there are attempts to exclude Copts form senior posts. The Middle East Council of Churches adopted a balanced stand between supporting the Pope and the members of the  committee, and confirmed that such strained events affected Christians negatively. The advisory committee of the Catholic Justice and Peace Committee commented on the recklessness of expatriate Copts  as a reason that led President al-Sadāt to adopt an extremist position towards the Church.  Expatriate Copts demonstrated in order to call on President Mubārak, after becoming president, to quickly release the Pope and return him to his papal chair.