Field Marshal Muhammad Husayn Tantāwī, commander-in-chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces, met with Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III at the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).
They both agreed to put the nation’s interest first during the current period. Tantāwī assured the pope that they would take all the quick necessary procedures needed to put an end to all the outstanding issues related to churches and finish all the investigations. Tantāwī pointed out that he gave instructions to quickly finish the late crisis of the Marinab and reconstructing the building to its original state as agreed with the church. A church source told al-Misrī al-Yawm that the meeting mainly tackled the incidents of Maspero, the demonstrations of the Copts abroad, the law of incriminating discrimination, the houses of worship common law, and legitimizing the unauthorized churches in different governorates.
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[Reviewer's Note: News story was also mentioned in al-Ahrām, page 1, October 25, 2011; al-Wafd, page 1, October 25, 2011 and al-Shurūq al-Jadīd, page 1, October 25, 2011; both articles have no link online.
