Spokesperson of Egypt’s Catholic Church Rafiq Greish praised the statement signed by Vatican’s Pope Francis and Coptic Patriarch, Pope Tawadros II during the visit conducted by Francis to Cairo on Friday, describing it as historic statement. He said that it was a major step to achieve unity between the two churches.
He added, in an interview with “Arabs Today”, that the decision to recognize the baptism of each other, paves the way for the people affiliating to the Coptic Orthodox Church from the Catholics, saying that the statement will perform a major role to bridge the gap of difference between the two churches.
He stressed that the decision will help the two churches to resolve a large number of their problems during the coming period. He said that the two churches should perform a major role to take further steps towards unity as soon as possible in the framework of their partnership in the faith.
He added, “The issue of the non-recognition of the baptism of each church has made the situation difficult for the consequences. In addition to the biblical text on "one baptism", matters of marriage and communion were also debated as sacrosanct sacraments.”
“Francis’ visit to Egypt has made us a two-day festival," said Father Rafik Gerish. He added, "The Pope insisted on completing the visit to Egypt despite the extremist bombings of the churches to give hope, hope and peace to the Egyptian people.”
He pointed out that he was afraid of the pope's cancellation of his visit to Egypt, but was surprised by the insistence of Pope Francis to attend, which gives a sign that he is courageous, explaining that it is unfair to describe the religion as terrorism.
Greish added that the Pope called monks and nuns to work and serve the people of Egypt because Egypt is the mother of the world, saying that the only allowed extremism allowed is the extremism of love."
The official spokesman of the Catholic Church called for investing in the visit of Pope Francis to promote for Egypt’s tourism, pointing out that the world saw the visit and saw the safety in the streets of Egypt, adding that the Pope stressed that the Egyptian people are a good and tolerant people.