Egypt’s Cabinet has approved the allocation of a 6,000 square metre plot of land in the country’s new administrative capital for building a Catholic church. The news was confirmed by Fr Hany Bakhoum, spokesperson of the Coptic Catholic Church.
A Coptic Orthodox Cathedral has already been built in the new capital some 40km east of Cairo. It was named the Church of the Nativity of Christ, and was opened on the evening of 6 January 2018, Coptic Christmas Eve, as Copts gathered there to celebrate Midnight Mass. President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi had promised Copts a church in the new capital that would be the biggest in Egypt; when the Cathedral of the Nativity was built it also became biggest in Middle East. The President said that the new capital would house, side by side with the cathedral, Egypt’s biggest mosque as well.
[https://en.wataninet.com/politics/national-affairs/feast-of-nativity-in-cathedral-of-the-nativity/22633/]
The new capital is a mega-project begun in 2015 to tackle the country’s rapidly growing population and improve infrastructure and government services.
Watani International
28 May 2018