“Widespread corruption, poverty, social crisis, and suffocating political atmosphere” were the causes for the demonstrations on 25 January according to Card. Antonios Naguib, Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria; those demonstrations originated the “renewal movement” of young people in Tahrir Square, which now “risks being obscured”. Yesterday evening, on speaking to the bishops of COMECE meeting in plenary assembly in Brussels – dedicated to the Churches in Maghreb and the Middle East – the Cardinal warned about the risk that “Muslim Brothers may snatch this renewal from the hands of young Egyptians. Unlike the Muslim Brothers, the youth movement has no recognised leader, and it has no structures to face the next elections with some good chances. They need the time they do not have”.
According to Card. Naguib, another risky element for democratic transition in Egypt is debate about article 2 of the Constitution, saying the main source of law is the Islamic law. “As Church, we decided not to raise the question, not to jeopardise national cohesion, postponing it to the time when Constitution change is real. We are in favour of democracy; for this reason, we are worried about this article being kept in the framework of the future Constitution”, confirmed the Cardinal, recalling that “in the country, equality is not applied to full extent”, even though there are articles providing for it. “In the 25 January movement, there are no religious reasons – concluded Naguib – the rosy beginning now risks being obscured, but we are going on setting our hopes on this youth”.
(Brussels)