Copts celebrate Christmas on January 7. “Pope Shenouda mulls canceling Christmas celebrations,” by Essam Fadl for Daily News Egypt, January 3 (thanks to Twostellas):
CAIRO: Pope Shenouda ended his spiritual mediation at St. Bishoy Monastery in Wadi Notroun to go back to the Cathedral’s headquarters in Abbasiya on Sunday, meanwhile mulling whether or not to cancel Coptic Christmas celebrations.
Some church leaders requested that the Jan. 7 Coptic Christmas celebrations be cancelled after the bombing of a church in Alexandria that left 21 dead and 97 injured.
The Pope met on Sunday the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb, the Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa and Minister of Religious Endowments Hamdy Zaqzouq.
The Pope has not yet made a final decision regarding Christmas celebrations, while some church leaders think it is necessary to hold the celebration on time.
“The Pope will meet with church officials to address the incident and to reach a final decision regarding the cancellation of the celebrations,” the sources added….