Egypt to Legalise 168 Churches Across the Country

The legalisation of 168 Egyptian churches and buildings has been approved by a committee headed by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, who also serves of Minister of Housing and Utilities, with around 151 being officially legalised and the rest awaiting documents.

The process of legalising a church has previously taken years, forcing many Coptic communities to congregate in unlicensed churches.

Studies over the span of two months on the conditions of the churches requesting legalisation were taken into account and examined during a meeting between the ministers of justice, antiquities, and parliamentary affairs. Madbouly also requested a follow-up report examining the results of smaller, governorate-based committees and NGOs.

A time frame was set by Madbouly for the conditions set by Law No.80 of 2016 to met and finalised by the churches. 

Since it’s founding the committee has legalised around 508 churches and buildings.

Christians make up around 10% of Egypt’s population of 90 mil­lion. There are, however, only 2,869 churches in the country, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS). 

Photo by @MO4Network's #MO4Productions.