Coinciding with the nearing of Eastern Christmas celebrations, the Egyptian Cabinet has thus far legalized 851 churches and 561 affiliated buildings across Egypt, for a total of 1412 buildings, from May 2018 to January 2020.
The Cabinet’s media center on Saturday published an infograph highlighting the accomplishments by the state committee for the legalization of unlicensed churches, which was formed in January 2017, and the latest number of legalized churches and buildings.
The infograph also showed the churches and buildings whose conditions were approved by the committee up until January 2020, which are:
Minya: 236 churches and buildings
Giza: 140 churches and buildings
Qalyubiya: 124 churches and buildings
Sohag: 120 churches and buildings
Alexandria: 113 churches and buildings
Assiut: 91 churches and buildings
Beheira: 83 churches and buildings
Sharqiya: 83 churches and buildings
Beni Suef: 82 churches and buildings
Cairo: 61 churches and buildings
Aswan: 47 churches and buildings
Gharbiya: 35 churches and buildings
Monufiya: 33 churches and buildings
Daqahlia: 31 churches and buildings
Luxor: 25 churches and buildings
Red Sea: 19 churches and buildings
Qena: 17 churches and buildings
Suez: 17 churches and buildings
Ismailia: 16 churches and buildings
Matrouh: 13 churches and buildings
Port Said: 10 churches and buildings
Kafr al-Sheikh: Eight churches and buildings
Fayoum: Six churches and buildings
New Valley: Two churches and buildings
The committee was set up by Law No. 80 of 2016 to organize the construction and restoration of churches in accordance to certain conditions.
The committee is chaired by the Prime Minister, and includes in its membership six ministers: Defense and Military Production, Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities, Local Development, Legal Affairs and the House of Representatives, Justice, Antiquities, representatives from concerned communities, as well as representatives of sovereign entities.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
