Merry Coptic Christmas: Egypt's Coptic Cathedral mourns bombing victims

Orthodox Christians are celebrating Christmas and Egypt’s Coptic Cathedral is holding a mass Friday evening to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and mourn victims of the church bombing on December 11, 2016.

27 people, mainly women and children, died in the suicide bombing which occurred during church service at the St Peter and St Paul’s Church adjacent to the cathedral in central Cairo.

The attack was later claimed by the Islamic State militant group.

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ordered the renovation of the church before the Christmas holiday on January 7.

The mass at the Cairo Coptic Cathedral will be presided by Pope Tawadros II.

Other churches will hold their mass on Saturday.

Coptic Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on january 7 according to the Julian calendar that pre-dates the commonly observed Gregorian calendar.