Egypt: Government gives legal status to 156 church buildings

Source: ICC/AsiaNews

The Egyptian government has approved the status of 156 new Christian churches and related buildings, under new legislation passed in 2016, bringing the total number officially recognised to 783. The decision was made by a special government committee headed by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly.

The 2016 law is the first law in Egypt to give specific rules for the construction of Christian churches. Some believed that the law would make it easier for Christians to renovate churches, while critics feared that it could give too much power to local governments to deny church building.

To date, while 783 churches have received legal status, there are still over 3,700 church buildings awaiting approval.

According to International Christian Concern, a US non-profit organisation that monitors the persecution of Christians in the world, the churches that have so far received Egyptian government approval are those that operated illegally before 2016 in buildings that had already been built. The ICC, on the other hand, expresses concern over news that suggests that the government's approval of plans to build completely new church buildings has "slowed down considerably."