The encounter was organized as a breakfast meeting last Friday, on the 7th of June, in Rome.
The meeting was organized by the Centre for the Middle Eastern Studies of the Foundation for the Social Promotion of Culture (CEMOFPSC). The participants of the meeting were Mr. Wael Farouq, vice president of the Meeting Cairo Foundation and Father Bernardo Cervellera, director of AsiaNews. Mr. Giovanni Cubeddu, the journalist of CEMOFPSC in Italy, moderated the meeting.
Prof. Farouq, teacher of the Muslim faith and one of the participants of the protests in Tahrir square against the Mubarak regime, presented post-revolutionary panorama in Egypt. He exposed the complexity of the current situation by saying “The Constitution of 2012 has changed the formula: The state guarantees the freedom of religion, by the principle that it respects other religions than Islam. However, this means that the state does not protect most other religions”.
He continued by saying that “A church can only be build with the approval of the President and after a long bureaucratic procedure. Above all, the Islamic law has become a source of legislation. This contributed to the introduction of profound restrictions and less freedom. Besides, Islamic religion has occupied most public spaces”. According to the professor, this caused that the expectations for progress of those who have encouraged the so-called Arab Spring are now completely unpredictable.
Mr Farouq mentioned the importance of people to make their own choice, whether they choose to live by the Christian religion or by Islam. He added that the choice should not just be made in condition of being an Egyptian citizen but by denominational affiliation.
Despite the complexity of the current situation in which it is impossible to make predictions of the near future, Mr Farouq expressed his full confidence in the youth movement that continue striving for dignity, right to work and freedom, which they are doing in a anonymously, apolitical and non-ideological way.
Mr Farouq concluded by saying that “the youth at least deserves our support”.
Father Cervellera, Director of Asia News, wanted to stress the importance of Pope Benedict´s message in “Ecclesia in Medio Oriente” during his speech. In his message, the Pope reiterated the need to overcome all forms of fundamentalism and therefore, the use of religion for political purposes by both Muslims and Christians.
The director of Asia News recalled that “the churches want to continue this dialogue because the Arab Christians feel part of the Arab world. While there is also the problem of secularism, in which the arms trade is more important than the population”.