Court tells church to let man remarry

CAIRO: An Egyptian court told the Coptic Christian church on Tuesday to let a divorced man marry again in church, despite the church s ban on divorce, judicial sources said. Mamdouh Ramzi, a lawyer for the church, told Reuters the church would appeal against the ruling in a higher court because it violates the ban, which includes refusing to endorse the remarriage of divorcees. The Coptic Orthodox church, to which about 10 percent of Egyptians belong, annuls marriages between Christians only in cases of adultery or if the marriage is invalid in some way. But Christians can get divorces and remarry under civilian law. The Cairo administrative court, ruling in a suit against Coptic religious leader Pope Shenouda, said that the right to marry was enshrined in Egyptian law and the church should let him remarry. The suit was from a Christian man who obtained a civil divorce from a court. Ramzi said: The ruling is hard to implement because it conflicts with the established concept of Christianity. Egyptian law usually recognizes separate Muslim and Christian religious authorities in most matters of marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance. Reuters