The church’s insistence on the invitations it has sent to SCAF members and Islamists on one hand and calls by the opposition to stage protests off the cathedral on January 5-8 on the other are putting both sides on the horns of a dilemma, reads an opinion article in al-Ahrām daily.

Many Coptic activists raised question marks about the significance of celebrating this year’s Coptic Christmas while all Copts are overshadowed by a “state of sadness over the martyrs of last year,” wondering what should prevent the church from showing solidarity with the relatives of the martyrs and settling only for holding the Christmas Mass without any jubilant aspects.

The activists said that church’s invitation to Islamists and SCAF “was not a message of love but rather yet an attempt at politics the church is still playing while disregarding the Copts’ problems”.

The church, they said, shows interest only in the clergyman. “The church acted only in the Kāmīliyā Shihātah issue but in the meantime ignored hundreds of young girls others abducted. It acts only when a priest is killed but turns a blind eye to dozens others killed.” [ʿAlā’ al-Dīn Sālim and Ashraf Sādiq, al-Ahrām, Jan. 4, p. 3]