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Pope Shenouda objects to Bio Research Center's minority report

A report issued by the Bio Research Center caused anguish to the minority religious population in Egypt, including Copts. Surveys revealed that the Egyptian Copts numbered only 5.4 percent as opposed to the assumed 10-15 percent that Coptic Pope Shenouda has often boasted about the church.

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A report issued by the Bio Research Center caused anguish to the minority religious population in Egypt, including Copts. Surveys revealed that the Egyptian Copts numbered only 5.4 percent as opposed to the assumed 10-15 percent that Coptic Pope Shenouda has often boasted about the church.

Pope Shenouda filed a report to authorities, in which he objected to the "disturbing" survey, laying blame on inside sources that exposed the numbers to the Center. Shenouda voiced his anger, claiming that figures were distorted and that the Copts were in fact actually higher in number. He called for an official report denying the numbers fearing that the Copts would be prone to subjugation as a result of the low count.

Lieutenant Abu Bakr Algendy, chairman of the National statistics and research center, called for an immediate press conference stressing that no one knows the true figures of Egypt's minorities, emphasizing that anyone involved in such research without official permission would be punished. He continued that there was no possible way to identify the valid number since many people choose not to identify their religion during statistical research.

The Research center had conducted a world-wide study researching the number of Muslims all over the world including over 232 countries. The research which is a first of its kind was performed by more than 50 researchers.