Some pig farmers in Cairo submitted complaints to Pope Shenouda III, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of St.Mark's Church, in which they said they had been affected by the government's decision to slaughter pigs. The farm owners call on the Pope to intervene and lift what they called the great injustice against them and to find a solution to this disaster which threatened their children's future. In alternative, they asked the Pope to give them compensations. This comes after the Pope said Christians did not eat pork meat, which some explained as the Church's go-ahead to the slaughter of pork. According to the complaints, not only farmers will be affected, but indeed all those working with milk derivatives, thus making the problem more serious in the future. Meanwhile, the Church stressed that the decision to slaughter the animals was in the government's hands and that the Church could not interfere. Bishop Ibram, member of the Secretariat of the Holy Synod and Fayoum Bishop, said Pope Shenouda's words were clear and explicit. "The Church is not interfering in the case of slaughtering or culling pigs' he added. Bishop Ibram went on to say that the Church usually gave some help to families damaged in one way or another without it being conditional upon anything. "All I know is that the Pope does whatever it takes for the sake of the whole Egypt, including his faithful" he said.
Dr. Tharwat Bassily, Under-Secretary of the General Melli [confessional] Council, said the Church had absolutely nothing to do with the decision to slaughter pigs. He also said that the Pope's declarations reflected something unquestionable, as most Christians in Egypt really did not eat pork at all.
Bassily explained that this was a matter of public health and was governed by the decisions of the World Health Organization. He said its decisions were binding for Christians, as people's health was the most important thing.
"Slaughtering animals to prevent the spread of a disease is a strategy already adopted twice in Egypt to deal with mad cow disease and bird flu. In those cases, the owners of any animal culled got compensation, so we hope this will also happen with pig farmers" he said, adding: "This shows how just and firm the state is". Bassily downplayed the number of people negatively affected by the slaughter of pigs (two million, according to Coptic organizations abroad): "This number is very exaggerated and they have to prove their claims".
He warned against leaving the issue without any clear and firm solution, as he said this could lead to sectarian tensions. He then affirmed that no one, not even the Church, would be able to control pig farmers, as they would be defending their economic interests.
