Bishop Armia, secretary to Coptic Pope Shenouda III, said the pope and the Coptic Church were insistent on rejecting the notion of second marriages for Coptic Christians. “We respect the Egyptian judiciary, but nothing on earth can force the church to violate the Bible,” he said, asserting that “what God brings together cannot be rent by man.”
Armia also said that Islamic Law granted the right to Copts to follow their own laws, meaning that the state must respect freedom of religion and refrain from interfering in their internal affairs. “We will take legal measures to challenge the recent court ruling that allows Copts to remarry,” he added.
According to church sources, the pope will address the issue in his sermon this Sunday.
Coptic MP Ibtessam Habib, for her part, said that the Bible represented Copts’ only constitution and that the Bible was firm on the sanctity of marriage. “This ruling will only serve to increase the number of divorces among Copts,” she warned.
Azza Suleiman, head of the Women’s Issues Foundation, said the ruling was in line with a draft law recently proposed by the foundation. “There were 844 divorce cases in 2008 alone, according to justice ministry statistics,” she said.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
