Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II decided to form a Church committee headed by Bishop Yu’annis, a general priest of church services. The intention of this committee is to account for all church properties. Momentarily, there exists no type of documentation that proves the Church’s ownership of property. This committee will verify all the Church’s keepings, prove its ownership, determine its endowments, record revenues and contractual agreements regarding leasing of real estate. The committee will then document and form ownership documents in accordance with the law, thereby legalizing their position. As the first stage, the committee will begin accounting for church properties in Cairo and Alexandria. The intended completion date is in July of this year. 

A source from the Church revealed to al-Watan that the formation of the committee coincides with a plan of the Pope to hold a major ecumenical conference in the coming months at the Saint Bishoy Monastery (Dayr al-Anbā Bīshūy) in Wādī al-Natrūn in order to discuss the Church’s administration. Some have suggested that the Pope’s resolution aims to legalize the ownership of unregistered land and properties that Copts have donated to the Church. This follows a number of accusations between the Church and a number of Salafīs and state institutions regarding the seizure of state-owned land and Church-owned land. These accusations have resulted in a sectarian strife that is surfacing in different places of the country. In the last few months, problems have arisen between the church and Salafīs in the diocese of Shubrā, the monastery of St. Macarius in Wadi Rayān, and in Beni Suef Governorate, among other places.

The Pope also decided to form a legal committee with a number of advisers: Bishrī Phillopus Matar, Kamāl Shawqī Kyrillos, and Munsif Najīb Sulaymān. This committee will on behalf of the Pope account for all the cases brought before the court in Cairo in order to end the work by next month (Mustafá Rahūmah, al-Watan, Feb. 13, p.10). Read original text in Arabic.