CAIRO: Pope Shenouda III today met with former Minister of Religious Affairs (Awqaf) Hamdy Zakzouk who expressed his condolences to the victims of the Maspiro incidents. Zakzouk also expressed his desire to see the crisis end peacefully. “There is a strong relationship between myself and Pope Shenouda III; he discussed future steps between Muslims and Christians to achieve progress in getting through the crisis,” said Zakzouk after the meeting. He added that the sectarian crisis should be treated holistically, not just the symptoms. The law unifying the houses of worship was presented to the Islamic Research Academy only two days ago and the Academy is now researching it and will present their findings in four days, he added. “There should be a law for organizing the building of Churches,” he said. Some journalists criticized the delay of Al-Azhar and the Family House in releasing their decision concerning the unification law. “The reason for the delay is because the law wasn't officially presented to them for opinion,” Zakzouk said.
