A Coptic Christian church in Libya was bombed killing two people near the city of Misrata on December 30, 2012. The action has been condemned by the foreign ministry in neighboring Egypt., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Christians being 'driven' out of Libya
2013-02-01 22:02
Vatican City - Christians are being driven out of eastern Libya by Muslim fundamentalists, the Catholic Church's main clergyman in the country told the Vatican missionary news agency Fides.
The situation was "critical" and the "atmosphere very tense" in the Cyrenaica region, the Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli said in the interview on Thursday.
He said two religious communities are leaving "after being pressured by fundamentalists", adding that the Apostolic Vicar of Benghazi was cautioned to take shelter ahead of a large-scale demonstration on 20 February.
"In past days, the Congregation of the Holy Family of Spoleto who had been there for nearly 100 years were forced to abandon Derna," east of the main eastern city of Benghazi, he said.
"In Barce [located between Benghazi and Derna] the Franciscan Sisters of the Child Jesus will leave their home in coming days."
On Friday, Martinelli told Vatican Radio that for some time now fundamentalism has governed decisions in Libya.
Christians have voiced fear of a rise in sectarian sentiment in the overwhelmingly Muslim nation following the 2011 revolt that toppled the revolutionary leader Muammar Gaddafi and in which hard-line Islamists played a major part backed by the US and NATO bombers.
Before the uprising, 3% of Libya's population of around 6.3 million were Christian.
Now only a couple thousand of them remain, with the majority of them expatriates.
In December, two Egyptians died in a blast at a Christian Coptic church in the Libyan town of Dafniya, and two others were wounded.
- SAPA
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