Vatican City, Jan 8, 2010 / 15:11 pm
In the wake of the drive-by shooting and killing of several Coptic Christians and a police officer, Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, is offering his prayers for the slain.
The Italian SIR news agency reported that the president of the Papal Council for the Unity of Christians, Cardinal Walter Kasper, expressed his sympathy to the community in a letter addressed to Shenouda III, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of Saint Mark.
The cardinal wrote that it was "with sadness" that he "learned of the terrible news of the death and wounding of many Coptic Christians after Midnight Mass at Christmas... ."
In the Coptic tradition, Christmas is celebrated on January 7.