Egypt’s Prime Minister Sherif Ismail has called for the process of legalising unlicensed churches to be ‘speeded up’ after granting a second batch of church buildings official status this week.

The government has legalised 219 churches and church-affiliated buildings this year, but 3,511 others remain on the waiting list.

The churches were built without licence as it was “next to impossible” to build or restore a church until the Law for Building and Restoring Churches was passed in September 2016.

But the growth in Christians in Egypt has not been universally popular, with a number of churches that have applied for licences being attacked by Muslim extremists. (World Watch Monitor)

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