Egyptian Church Bombed; Pope Calls For Religious Freedom

Pope Benedict XVI's New Year's message focused on the need for religious freedom around the world, condemning both secularism and fundamentalism. (Zenit.)  Fox News reports that the pope's message was delivered shortly after a New Year's Eve bomb blast at a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria, Egypt killed at least 21.  BBC News reports that at least 70 others were injured in the blast which was condemned a few hours afterwards by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.  In a rare television broadcast, Mubarak said the attack was a "terrorist operation which carries, within itself, the hallmark of foreign hands which want to turn Egypt into another scene of terrorism like elsewhere in the region and the wider world." Hundreds of Copts clashed with police and local Muslims in reaction to the bombing. Today, President Obama issued a statement (full text) condemning the Alexandria bombing, as well as a terrorism attack on an army barracks in Nigeria.