By Vatican News –
A long-awaited law on the personal legal status of Christians in Egypt is expected to be approved soon by the Egyptian Parliament. According to a member of the parliamentary legislative committee, the draft law should be discussed shortly after Parliament opens its new session on 23 January.
The drafting of the new legislation, which includes provisions on sensitive issues relating to family law, has been a long process that started in 2014 and in which all Egyptian Churches have been involved.
A long process
The Ministry of Justice ended the drafting process in June 2021 after 16 sessions, during which it consulted legal experts, government officials and Church representatives to reach consensus on the wording of the text.
Discussions have focused in particular on delicate matters like divorce and legal separation of spouses, to which Christian Churches have different ecclesial approaches. Christian leaders had delivered their joint proposed text to the Egyptian authorities on 15 October 2020.
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