Coptic Catholic leader discusses post-Mubarak Egypt
April 01, 2011
Nearly two months after the downfall of President Hosni Mubarak, Cardinal Antonios Naguib, patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church, offers an overview of the present situation in Egypt.
“The movement of change was born for social justice, for liberty, for the elimination of corruption, and to institute a modern and democratic Egyptian state, for Egyptian national security, to reform education, the economy and the other sectors of the national life,” he says.
“It is necessary to point out here that the Church does not engage in political work, being a religious institution,” he added. “However, Christians, being also citizens, participate in social life and work with all others to build their country.”
Cardinal Naguib cautioned against the formation of a Christian political party because it would create “confusion between what is religious and what is political, that is, between what is absolute and what is relative. This situation would help neither religion nor politics, because it would lead inevitably to the politicization of religion and to the religious instrumentalization of politics.”
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