Coptic Catholics, remembering martyrs in Libya, dedicate new church in Sinai
February 20, 2015
Coptic Catholics paid tribute to the 21 Copts killed in Libya, as they dedicated the first Catholic church to open in Sinai.
“The Church in Egypt has been strengthened by the murder of our brothers in Libya,” said Bishop Youssef Aboul-Kheir of Sohag. The videotape of the brutal killings—clearly showing the victims saying the name of Jesus Christ as they died—was released on the same day as the dedication of the new church.
Our Lady of Peace church in Sharm el-Sheikh, a Sinai resort town, was built with financial support from Aid to the Church in Need. The church was built when Susanne Mubarak-- the wife of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was educated in Catholic schools-- ensured that bureaucratic obstacles to construction were removed. Patriarch Ibrahim I Sidrak, head of the 200,000-member strong Egyptian Coptic Catholic Church, presided over the consecration ceremony.
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