This article highlights an interview between Radio Vatican and Father Rafīq Greish, a spokesman for the Coptic Catholic Church, who speaks about the state of Egyptian Christians during the past months.

Greish discusses the ‘Umrāniyyah riots against the construction stoppage of an unlicensed church in Giza in November, as well as the effects of the al-Qā‘idah attack on a Syriac Catholic Church in October in Baghdad.

He believes that the church was targeted specifically because of the Middle East Synod held at the Vatican last month.

Regarding Egypt, Greish says that the government uses a double standard when dealing with the construction of places of worship.