CAIRO: Egyptian police beefed up security measures during Pope Shenouda’s weekly sermon on Wednesday evening at the Orthodox cathedral in Abbaseya in response to recent threats made by Al-Qaeda.
The Pope’s sermon comes a few hours after the 48-hour time limit — set by Al-Qaeda to free Camilia Shehata and Wafa Constantine, two Coptic women rumored to have converted to Islam — had expired
Police imposed security cordons and parked armored vehicles around the cathedral while additional police forces in civilian clothing maintained security inside the cathedral.
Copts who came to attend the sermon had to wait in crowds near the cathedral’s entry gates because the police was checking the national IDs of all Coptic Christians trying to enter the cathedral.
The Pope’s parade entered the cathedral surrounded by four Jeep Cherokees, with six security officers guarding the Pope during his sermon.
The church’s choir performed some hymns upon the Pope’s arrival to help calm the Copts in attendance.
Sources in the papal office told Daily News Egypt that security measures were beefed up over fears of possible attacks during the Pope’s sermon.
“Today witnessed the attendance of 3,000 Christians, which means that both the Copts and the Church do not fear Al-Qaeda’s threats,” stated papal office sources.
Sources also confirmed that the Pope’s 39th Holy See anniversary celebration will be held on schedule, and will be celebrated by thousands of different Christian groups — a confirmation from the Pope that Al-Qaeda’s threats will not stop the Orthodox Church’s normal proceedings.
During his first sermon since returning from the US to receive medical treatment, Pope Shenouda thanked Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb for his condemnation of the threats Al-Qaeda has made.
“On behalf of all Copts, I thank the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, and I wish him a speedy recovery,” Shenouda said.
The Pope said that the Al-Qaeda threat against Copts had inadvertently turned to "good" by creating sympathy for his church.
"God either prevents evil or turns it to good."
"Affirming that everything turns to good, the message that reached us brought sympathy for us from the Noble Al-Azhar and from many writers and journalists and the interior ministry and police," he added.
“Al-Qaeda’s statement released on Wednesday is nonsense,” Bishop Morkos, the bishop of Shubra and the head of the media committee at the Holy Synod, told Daily News Egypt. “Al-Qaeda will do nothing because we trust God.”
Morkos added that he believes Al-Qaeda’s statement was made simply to increase its own publicity and to keep the organization’s name in the media.
“We trust the Egyptian police forces’ ability to maintain the country’s security and to protect its citizens — whether Muslims or Christians.” –Additional reporting by AFP
An Egyptian Coptic woman holds up the portrait of Pope Shenouda upon his arrival to al-Abasseya Cathedral in Cairo on Nov. 3, 2010 to give his a sermon speech. (AFP Photo/Khaled Desouki)
