Egyptian Catholic Archbishop Antonios Aziz praised the document signed by Vatican’s Pope Francis and Coptic Orthodox Patriarch, Pope Tawadros II in Cairo days ago, saying that this document will perform a major role to support the unity between the two churches during the coming period.
He added that the new document has not made any changes regarding the theological aspects especially related to the unified baptism. He added that the main objective of the document is not to repeat baptism to pave the way for a future unity between the two churches in the future.
He added that the recent step comes to complete what achieve since over 40 years when Pope Shenouda III visited Vatican in 1973 and signed agreement with his Catholic counterpart to stress the unity between the two churches over the nature of Christ.
He added, in an interview with “Arabs Today”, that the decision to recognize the baptism of each other, paves the way for the people affiliating to the Coptic Orthodox Church from the Catholics, saying that the statement will perform a major role to bridge the gap of difference between the two churches.
He stressed that the decision will help the two churches to resolve a large number of their problems during the coming period. He said that the two churches should perform a major role to take further steps towards unity as soon as possible in the framework of their partnership in the faith.
He added, “The issue of the non-recognition of the baptism of each church has made the situation difficult for the consequences. In addition to the biblical text on "one baptism", matters of marriage and communion were also debated as sacrosanct sacraments.”
He pointed out that he was afraid of the pope's cancellation of his visit to Egypt, but was surprised by the insistence of Pope Francis to attend, which gives a sign that he is courageous, explaining that it is unfair to describe the religion as terrorism.