The attacks on the Egyptian churches last Sunday are “another sign of serious intolerance which tend to undermine dialogue and aim to frighten public opinion in different countries, both inside and outside Europe”. Card. Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa and President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) and of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE), said this on the margins of the prayer vigil in memory of the missionary martyrs that took place in Genoa, the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, yesterday evening. First of all, the Cardinal said, “we are close in prayer both to the victims and to those in the Coptic community who have been affected”. Secondly, “the visit of the Holy Father, which will not be cancelled, will be of great consolation to the whole of Egypt, particularly to the Coptic community for which we pray”. The Cardinal then went on to recall that “Christians are a constant target and are particularly exposed in their places of prayer and worship and other symbolic places”. “Like any other true religion, Christianity is a religion of peace, justice, and forgiveness”, the Archbishop continued, speaking on the parvis of the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata (Basilica of the Most Holy Annunciation) in Genoa. Therefore “I hope that the world, and Europe in particular, will seriously reconsider the religious dimension and acknowledge its value” while also recognising the need to “both respect and promote the religious dimension, not by virtue of confessionalism, but because of the founding values on which our continent is based”. “Any other religion – he concluded – can join forces with Christianity to combat and contrast that spiral of violence which pretends to be religious but has nothing to do with religion”.