Egypt's Copts says Catholic primacy claim 'fans tensions'

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

CAIRO (AFP) — Egypt's Coptic Church on Wednesday rejected the Roman Catholic Church's claim to be "the one true Church of Christ," saying such provocative declarations unnecessarily stirred up tensions.

"Such words fan tensions and arouse negative emotions," spokesman Father Yaqub Suleiman told AFP. "You shouldn't fan tensions or provoke others. We really don't need that."

The Vatican on Tuesday issued a document reaffirming the primacy of Roman Catholicism, setting itself on a collision course with rival Christian denominations and reviving a centuries' old debate.

Other Christian churches, including the Orthodox Coptic, "lack elements considered essential to the Catholic Church," said the document released by the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog and ratified...