CAIRO: Leader of the Egyptian Coptic Christian Church Pope Shenouda III today met with two members of the ruling military council to discuss both the Law of Unifying the Houses of Worship and the recent Maspiro clashes. Pope Shenouda also discussed the issue of shuttered churches and how the Copts could cooperate with the military council to reopen 55 churches. The military council is officially reviewing both the Law and the church notices. It also promised to include the notes from the Copts on its social discussion agenda. The meeting was held in secret and photgraphers and journalists were prevented from attending. In related news, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayeb met with Shenouda in an emergency meeting of the Egyptian Family House today at the Al-Azhar headquarters. The spiritual leaders discussed the final reforms to the Law of Unifying the Houses of Worship, which was initially prepared by the Egyptian Minister of Justice. They presented the final version to the Islamic Research Academy on Tuesday. It will then be forwarded to the ruling military council and Egyptian Cabinet for review and implementation. Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf met both with Pope Shenouda and the Grand Imam last Thursday to discuss the law. Al-Tayed will continue meeting with intellectuals today to discuss issues concerning the Arab Spring. Arabic here
