In a landmark ruling in late August, Egypt’s parliament has approved a long-awaited new law which it is hoped will make it easier to build and restore churches.
A two-thirds majority of MPs voted in favour of the Bill, which represents a significant breakthrough, as the construction of churches has been tightly regulated by a decree issued during the Ottoman Empire in 1856.
President’s promise
In further encouraging news, the Egyptian army has rebuilt 70% of the churches destroyed in August 2013 by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, following the overthrow of President Muhammad Morsi. In January this year, President al-Sisi had promised to restore all of the churches targeted in the attacks, which is around 70 in total. All are due to be rebuilt by the end of the year.
