Church awaiting unified law for places of Worship

30/05/2011

The Coptic Orthodox Church has called on the cabinet to present it with the unified law for places of worship once it has been drafted. A Church source said that head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Shenouda III, was awaiting the law.

The source went on to say that the Church has rejected the financial supervision of churches as they do not receive any funding from the state. All sources of Church income are either from Coptic endowments or Coptic donations, the source said.

The source also called for the swift adoption of the unified personal status law for non-Muslims.

Meanwhile, Kameel Sadeeq, from the Coptic Council in Alexandria, said the patriarchy does not receive one cent from the state’s general budget for services or salaries. He went on to say that the Church depends solely on Coptic donations and tithing.

Sadeeq told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the patriarchy would not permit financial supervision by the Central Auditing Agency, or by any other state entity, as the money concerned “is simply private money.” He said that supervision is appropriate only for public funds or institutions financially supported by the state.

Sadeeq went on to say that the financial and administrative committees within the Church are currently run by secularists, not the state.

Translated from the Arabic Edition

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