Pope Shnouda III Apologizes Officially For bishop Bishoy's Statements

Pope Shnouda has apologized officially on the National TV yesterday for the statements of Bishop Bishoy who called Muslims as guests and suspected some verses in the Holy Quran. Pope Snouda III spoke with Abdel Latif El-Manawy , head of news sector in the National TV and the host of “Point of view” TV show for more than hour last night , the first part of the interview was aired at the prime hour in Egyptian TV 8 PM Cairo local time , the second part was aired after the 9 PM news though I have not seen it yet.
You can watch the first part of the interview below after the break thanks to our dear Tafatefo.

Strangely last week the Pope had an interview with Gaber El-Karmouty on ON TV and it was not as good as this one , may be because there were no taboos and El-Manawy asked questions El-Karmouty did not ask by the request of the Pope. It is from rare times I suppose that I praise the work of our Egyptian TV’s news sector but honestly hats off.
Of course this time Pope Shnouda knows the sensitivity of the situation especially after the official statement issued by Al Azhar slamming Bishoy’s statement so questions were asked and answered . For the record Al Azhar has kept itself away since the beginning of this media circus but it can’t be quiet now after suspecting the Holy Quran publicly like that during this critical time. We also should not forget that the Al Azhar was accused of giving up Camilla Shehata to the Church.
The Church was angry from the protest led by the Salafi groups in Alexandria last Friday as there were anti-pope slogans but the Church knows the Bishoy’s statements are more destructive.
Bishop Bishoy is believed to be the second man in the church and from the possible candidates to become the next Pope. He is known from his strange and controversial statements like for instance supporting Mubarak and son is a biblical duty ..etc .
I believe bishop Bishoy is no longer man No.2 in the Church after forcing the Pope himself to apologize to Muslims in this way on national TV directly. Many Christians are angry from him for putting the Pope himself in that critical position forcing him to apologize like that on the national TV , something that has never done in the history of the Orthodox Church.
I wish this interview will put an end to this new season from that ugly sectarian media war  but of course it is just wish because Dr. Mohamed Omara , the famous Islamic thinker stated that Pope Shnouda III was the source of the sectarianism in Egypt and tomorrow Mona El-Shazely is going to host Dr. Al-Awa not to mention Bishoy has not apologized at it should for his statements.
Back to the Salafi Protest in Alex last Friday , it was amazing according to eye witnesses that there were no security harassments what so ever in the protest as it is an authentic tradition in other protests even those unrelated to Egypt !! may be because the security knows that people are extremely angry because they are being offended in their religion and religions are taboos !!?? Or may be because the security wanted the people to vent their anger !!?? The thing is that the Salafis are against the idea of protesting or at least this what we understood during the Khaled Said’s protests in Alex !!??
Divide conquer , this is what we see currently , instead of focusing on and debating the succession plans and the coming elections seasons  in 2010 and 2011 not to mention all other blunders we have and we are still debating who is a guest in his own country !! Again I hope that everybody just shuts up for the love of God !!

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