EGYPT: The head of the press office of the Egyptian Catholic Bishops’ Conference has said the ousting of President Mohamed Morsi was “a joyous day for Christians”.
Fr Rafik Greiche said the military’s ousting of Islamist president on July 3 was not a coup.
“The army carried out the will of the people,” he said.
“They expressed this unequivocally over the last few days through millions of signatures and massive demonstrations in Cairo and throughout the entire country.
“A number of western media are now presenting it as a coup d’état. But a putsch happens when officers take power and act without the endorsement of the people.
“But this is exactly what did not happen in Egypt.
“Moreover, the army wanted to prevent the bloodshed the Muslim brothers were threatening.
“This is why they took action.”
Fr Greiche said the ousting of Mr Morsi and the political new beginning was a joyous day for Christians in Egypt and for all Egyptians.
“We hope that we will not be excluded from the political process that lies before us,” he said.
“It is too early to speculate about the future of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.”
Fr Greiche said their failure was apparent to all Egyptians.
“The Muslim brothers were not ready to govern,” he said.
“Moreover, their focus was on setting up an Islamic caliphate and not first and foremost on Egypt.
“The people were no longer willing to accept this.”
However, Fr Greiche worries that the Muslim brothers who were ousted from power may take revenge and cause unrest.
He is optimistic about Egypt’s political future.
“The non-Islamist opposition has found a new unity. What will be decisive, however, is that politics are led by the youth and not vice versa,” he said.
“The young people from Tahrir Square need to be involved now. They must not be excluded again as they were after the revolution in 2011.”
ACN News
