The new church, bearing the name “Church of the Libyan Martyrs,” will be built in the village of Our, Samalut district, Minya Governorate. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi granted permission for the construction of the church February 2015 after Islamic State militants murdered 21 Coptic Christians on a Libyan beach. The procedure, Father Rafic Greiche said, involved in getting a church building permit was extremely complex, involving a series of authorizations and approvals, which have been streamlined in this case. The decision also indicates that the government wished to send a strong message against religious discrimination, he said. The church will cost $1.3 million, half of which has already been raised.

Cornelis Hulsman: Remarkable that a Catholic priest who serves as spokesperson for the Catholic church in Egypt, is asked to speak about a church building in the diocese of Coptic Orthodox bishop Paphnotius. Remarkable too is the amount of money that is spent on a church in a small village. The church will likely be larger than local mosques which in turn could spark envy as we have seen before with church building in a number of other villages. There has already been resistance from local Muslims months ago. I remember the late Bishop Athanasius of Beni Suef who has led a doubling of church buildings in his diocese of Beni Suef,  from 60 when he became bishop in 1962, to over 120 when he passed away in the year 2000. He would always go to local Muslim leaders in villages first to make sure he would have their support and he would make compromises such as agreeing that a church tower would be lower than that of a local mosque. That is the much needed local diplomacy. I much hope local Christian leaders will also display this diplomacy in the village of Our.