A commission drawn up by the Minister of Justice met for the first time on Monday to prepare a unified personal status law for non-Muslims amid complaints that the commission had failed to include all parties involved in the issue.
According to sources within the commission, representatives from the Anglican and Catholic churches had not been invited to attend the meeting.
Yuhkh Qalta, vice-patriarch of the Catholic Church in Egypt, confirmed the news, noting that he had not been informed of the meeting, despite the fact that he was well known by comission members. Similarily, Anglican Church representative Ikram Lamai stated that he had not been notified of the meeting until it was too late to attend.
Coptic Pope Shenouda III called on commission members to attend an emergency meeting at the papal residence to discuss means of challenging a recent ruling by Egypt’s High Administrative Court obliging the Coptic Church to allow members of its congregation to divorce and remarry.
In related news, Anglican Church head Safwat el-Biadwi stated that he had met with the Anglican Church’s Confessional Council to discuss the proposed personal status law, particularly in light of reported disputes between the Orthodox and Anglican churches after the deletion of one of the law’s articles by Shenouda.
During his bi-monthly sermon in Alexandria, Shenouda did not mention the verdict pertaining to divorce and remarriage. Nevertheless, congregation members brandished pictures of the pope while chanting slogans praising him and his uncompromising stand against the verdict.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
