Bishop Stephanous II, the Catholic Patriarch of Egypt, said that the bigotry of Pope Shenouda is the reason behind stumbling the process of the drawing closer of the Christian denominations. He added that the Orthodox emigrant Copts are the ones behind the stirring up of the issue of the persecution of Copts in Egypt. He said that Catholicism does not prevent the marriage of a Muslim man to a Catholic woman, but on conditions.