Christianity in Egypt dates to the very beginnings of the faith and nearly 10% of the country’s population of 111 million are Christian. Most Egyptian Christians belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church, while about 2.5% belong to the Coptic Catholic Church and other particular churches.
Christians constitute the largest minority in Egypt, and Macarius leads the Coptic Christians of Minya Province, where approximately one-third of the country’s Christians live. He narrowly survived an assassination attempt more than 10 years ago.
The Open Doors organization, which monitors persecution against followers of Christ, ranks Egypt as the 38th most dangerous country in the world to be a Christian. In 2018, seven Christians were killed by Muslim terrorists who attacked a bus carrying pilgrims. In 2017, Islamic State terrorists bombed two Coptic Orthodox churches, killing over 40 people. And in December 2016, a terrorist detonated a bomb killing himself and 189 worshippers at Sts. Peter and Paul Church, injuring more than 400 others.
On his 2017 visit to Egypt, Pope Francis celebrated a Mass for the small Catholic community and called on Christians to forgive the atrocities. Relations between the Vatican and the Coptic Orthodox Church, the leader of which is Pope Tawadros II, have improved in recent years.
Earlier this year, Pope Francis recognized the Coptic Orthodox Church’s canonization of 21 Coptic Orthodox Martyrs of Libya.
Last year, Pope Tawadros II celebrated a Divine Liturgy at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, where he delivered a homily on Christian unity. Since then, however, Tawadros II has reduced relations with the Vatican following the December 2023 publication of Fiducia Supplicans.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), while noting that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s government has appointed the first-ever Christian to the Supreme Constitutional Court and also sentenced a extremist Muslim murderer of a priest, has criticized the “slow pace of approvals for the backlog of legalization applications,” which would allow the construction of new churches. Egypt is on the USCIRF Special Watch List for tolerating severe violations of religious freedom.
In 2016, Egypt’s legislature passed the Church Construction Law, ostensibly to legalize such construction with permits.
