Egypt

• Population: 104,124,440 people, or 104 people per square kilometer
• Official language: Arabic
• Form of Government: Presidential Republic (Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi)

90% of Egyptians are Sunni Muslims and are affiliated with the supreme authority of the Sheikh of Al-Azhar Mosque (الجامع الأزهر). Coptic Christians make up 10% of the population and are concentrated primarily in the region of Upper Egypt. Within this minority itself, the majority of Christians follow the Coptic Orthodox rite, as opposed to the Coptic Catholic rite. A few thousand Levantine Christians of the Greek Catholic, Greek Orthodox, or Maronite rites live there, along with a minority of Armenian Orthodox and Catholic Christians.

Interfaith attacks are not uncommon in Egypt, nor are attacks against Coptic minorities and their places of worship. There is a growing trend of religious intolerance and sectarian violence against the Coptic community. A bomb attack near a Coptic church during Palm Sunday Mass, north of Cairo, killed at least 27 people on April 8, 2017. A second explosion near a church in Alexandria killed 16 people on the same day.

Before the arrival of Islam in the 7th century, Christianity was the predominant religion in the country; Egypt was, in fact, one of the first countries to embrace this faith.
Since 2012, His Beatitude Theodore II has served as Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Since January 2013, His Beatitude Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak has served as Patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church.

L’Œuvre d’Orient has a particularly strong presence in Egypt thanks to the volunteers who are sent to various religious communities to participate in the daily life of clinics, schools, centers for people with disabilities, and shelters for the elderly or for underprivileged girls.

In total, 151 projects are supported in Egypt through 47 communities.