A new law on the personal legal status of Christians in Egypt is soon to be approved in the country, the Vatican News has reported.
The draft law will be discussed shortly after Parliament opens its new session on 23rd January and will include provisions on sensitive issues relating to family law, such as divorce and legal separation of spouses, to which Christian Churches have different ecclesial approaches.
The process started in 2014, in which all Egyptian Churches have been involved and Christians count for some 10 per cent of the country's 87 million population.
Since the Egyptian government has been led by President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, he has made a number of friendly gestures towards the local Christian Churches, especially the Orthodox Coptic Church, the largest Christian community in the country.
In 2015 he reacted strongly to the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians held by the Islamic State in Libya, and in July 2016 announced he would increase penalties against those fomenting religious violence.