Ansamed

(ANSAmed) - ROME, JULY 2 - Egypt's new Coptic Catholic Patriarch, Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak, has stated in an interview with Terrasanta.net that there is the risk of a civil war breaking out, noting that the main problem was the formation of a new leadership class. He said that the fact that the revolution had been launched by the young had led to a great deal of hope and ambitions to provide a better life for Egyptians. Instead, one year after the election of President Mohammad Morsi, ''we see a country moving backwards instead of forwards. There is certainly more freedom than during Hosni Mubarak's time in power'', with criticism more easily expressed. That said, ''the inexperience of political leaders and the Muslim Brotherhood's attempt to put their men in every corner of non-elected institutions, from the judiciary to local officials, have sparked strong opposition, growing anti-Islamist sentiment'' and the population's ever dwindling trust in the Muslim Brotherhood, who ''promise one thing and do something else''. The patriarch said that Christians suffer from this climate of insecurity and instability as much as Muslims do. Sidrak went on to say that their approach to public life.

however, had changed. Under the Mubarak regime Copts were more submissive, living under the aegis of the Coptic Orthodox patriarch - who avoided taking up any positions against Mubarak.

The situation, he said, has now changed: ''they aren't afraid any more, there isn't the blind obedience of before''. They discovered freedom through the revolution, he said, and intend to fight alongside the rest of the population to have a life worthy of living, a life ''worthy of man''.

There is a certain, growing degree of freedom already, he concluded, and Christians and Muslims are trying to create the citizenship for which they fought side by side during the revolution. (ANSAmed).