51�Թ�

"Martyrs of the Coptic Church are ours too," Francis, 86, said.

“The fire affected the entire electrical network and the smoke was everywhere,” said Father Ibrahim, the Coptic Church spokesman, adding that the entire electrical system had short-circuited at the same time.

In the Coptic Church, priests are allowed to marry.

The Coptic Church is the main authority on marriages and divorces of its followers, but inheritance laws are left to the state to decide.

The case provoked widespread shock in Egypt's Coptic Church - whose followers constitute about 10% of the country's population.