During his weekly remarks today, Pope Tawadros offered his renewed condolences to the families of the victims of the tragic fire that broke out in Abu Sefein Church in northern Egypt’s Giza governorate on Sunday, killing 41 people, including children.

The pope said that he will meet with relatives of the victims soon.

He praised the Egyptian people’s way of dealing with the Abu Sefein church fire incident, saying that the crisis has shown their “coherence and genuine nature.”

Muslims and Christians side by side collaborated to put out the fire in Abu Sefein Church on Sunday and save as many lives as possible in one of Egypt’s worst tragedies.

The fire caused some families to lose many of its members, including their young sons, especially as the church’s building had a nursery on the last floor. The church’s priest, Abdel-Messih Bakhit, was also among the victims.

The fire broke out due to an electrical short circuit, according to the prosecution’s preliminary investigations.

The incident has brought condolences from across the world and Muslim and Christian people on social media have been condoling with each other.

Besides a compensation set by the state for the victims, Minister of Social Solidarity Nevine El-Qabbaj said on Sunday that Al-Azhar, Egypt’s top religious authority, and civil society organisations will support the families of the victims with EGP 50,000.

During his Wednesday remarks, the pope said that the Church received messages of condolences from Muslim and Christian communities from many countries as well as from heads of churches from inside and outside the Middle East.

Also, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Prosecutor-General Hamada El-Sawy, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed El-Tayyeb, ministers, ambassadors, and officials in Egypt and abroad have extended their condolences over the incident, the pope said.