(CAIRO) — The leader of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church on Tuesday blasted the country's Islamist president over his handling of the recent deadly sectarian violence, including an attack on the main cathedral in Cairo. The remarks by Pope Tawadros II underscore rising Muslim-Christian tensions in Egypt. They were Tawadros' first direct criticism of President Mohammed Morsi since he was enthroned in November as the spiritual leader of Egypt's Orthodox Christians. They are also likely to fuel the political turmoil roiling the country for the two years since the ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak. (PHOTOS: Egyptian Copts Mourn and Riot in Cairo) Tawadros also warned that the state of Egypt was "collapsing" and described Sunday's attack on the St. Mark Cathedral in central Cairo, which serves as the Coptic papal seat, as "breaching all the red lines." Tawadros said Morsi had promised him in a telephone conversation to do everything to protect the cathedral, "but in reality he did not." Asked to explain Morsi's attitude, Tawadros, who spoke in a telephone interview to a political talk show aired on the private ONTV network, said it "comes under the category of negligence and poor assessment of events." On Sunday, an angry mob of Muslims threw firebombs and rocks at the Coptic cathedral in Cairo, leaving two people dead. One of the two was identified as a Christian. The attack followed a funeral service for four Christians killed in sectarian clashes in a town north of Cairo early the day before. A fifth person, a Muslim, was also killed. It was the deadliest sectarian violence since Morsi came to office nine months ago as the country's first freely elected president. Tawadros also criticized the president over his decision on Monday to revive a state body mandated to promote equality between Egyptians regardless of their religious and ethnic background. Morsi's decision was in response to the sectarian violence. "Enough already of formations, committees and groups and whatever else," Tawadros said. "We want action not words and, let me say this, there are many names(http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&blog=19871253&post=80701&subd=timeglobalspin&ref=&feed=1)
Via: TIME GlobalSpin