CAIRO: Church sources denied allegations made in the daily Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper that Pope Shenouda plans to present the government with a proposal to set up a council for national unity. In its May 21 edition, the independent daily claimed on its front page that Pope Shenouda, the highest authority in the Coptic Church, had assigned a church council the task of putting together this proposal. The paper cited "sources close to Pope Shenouda without identifying them. The proposed council, according to the report, will include both Muslim and Coptic representatives and will support national unity, bridge the gap between faith, boost inter-faith dialogue as well as prohibit contempt for religion. However Bishop Botros, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church, denied in a phone interview with The Daily Star Egypt being aware that such a proposal is under discussion on any level in the Church. "The Pope does not address newspapers like [El-Masry El-Youm]. He only speaks through the [state-run] Ahram, Akhbar or Watani. Such papers only want to sell with catchy headlines, he said. Bishop Abraham, member of the Secretariat of Pope Shenouda's Holy Synod, concurred. He too denied knowledge of an alleged national unity council. He told The Daily Star Egypt: "I'm not an official spokesperson to refute or endorse any announcements by the Pope, but all I can say is that I've heard nothing of the sort. Amr Bayoumi, the Al-Masry Al-Youm journalist who wrote the report, told The Daily Star Egypt that he stood by his story, emphasizing that his source is close to the Pope but that he didn't wish to speak on the record because the Pope has not yet made an official announcement. "These proposals are for local consumption, he said, linking its timing to the recent sectarian violence in Al Ayyat where 11 people were wounded during clashes between Muslims and Copts over the alleged building of a church. "When there's a crisis, such proposals always come to the surface, whether from the Church, Al Azhar or the government. "If the church wanted to refute the proposal, it would have done so, but no one from the Papacy has contacted the paper to complain, he added. A priest, patron of Saint Marc's Church, who spoke to The Daily Star Egypt on condition of anonymity, said that even if this were true, such matters are not discussed among priests. "Our relationship with the Papacy is like the relationship between the Presidency and the local councils. We are not involved in any discussions on that level. He added however, that Pope Shenouda has no political authority of any kind, reiterating the Pope's statement that he is a man of religion not a man of politics. He was also wary of the media's tendency to invert the Pope's comments and politicize his role as the head of the Coptic Church, a position that has come increasingly under in the public eye in light of sectarian clashes that have been taking place in the past few years. Although Gamal Eid, human rights advocate and executive director of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, could not verify the news, he pointed out to The Daily Star Egypt that the problem with such a suggestion is two-fold. "First the government will never approve setting up a national unity council because this would amount to a confession that there is discrimination against Copts, he said. He added that in the unlikely event that the government does agree to this proposal, it would hijack the aims of such a council. "The government would exercise its control over it to improve its image not to end Coptic grievances and stop discrimination; the same way it manipulated the National Council for Human Rights which he believes has failed to improve the human rights situation in the country. As for the timing of this announcement, Eid said that what happened in Al Ayyat was not new. "It's a daily occurrence and it will continue to be so because the government is not seriously committed to ending the discrimination. The best way to handle this rift caused by decades of accumulated cultural attitudes is for the government to stop its own discriminatory practices, says Eid, and begin to apply the concept of citizenship, not merely give it lip service. "They must stop pushing the issue under the rug. To change mentalities, this will take a long time but the government must provide the right media atmosphere and allow human rights organizations to do their work freely.
