Egypt's Coptic Christians celebrate Christmas amid tight security

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) is seen during the opening ceremony of the new Coptic Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt on January 6, 2018 [Egyptian Presidency / Handout – Anadolu Agency]

Egyptian Coptic Pope Tawadros II (L), Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of Saint Marc Episcopate and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in Cairo, Egypt on 6 January 2018 [Egyptian Presidency/Anadolu Agency]

Egyptian Coptic Pope Tawadros II (L), Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of Saint Marc Episcopate, receives Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R), during the opening ceremony of the new Coptic Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt on January 6, 2018 [Egyptian Presidency / Handout – Anadolu Agency]

The head of the Coptic Church, Pope Tawadros II, led midnight mass in the cathedral of Egypt’s new administrative capital on Saturday, a service attended by President Abdel Fattah al Sisi.

The mass, on the eve of Coptic Christmas which is celebrated on January 7, was the first to be held in the newly-built cathedral and took place amid tight security. Sisi was cheered by worshippers as he entered the building.

The new Egyptian capital, announced in March 2015, is intended partly to reduce crowding in Cairo. Some 45 km (28 miles) east of Cairo, the city, which has not yet been given a name, will be home to government ministries, housing and an airport.

The celebrations were held days after attacks on a Coptic church and another Christian-owned shop that left more than 10 people dead.

Egypt’s large Christian minority has increasingly been targeted in recent years by militants including Daesh, which is waging an insurgency in the north of the remote Sinai Peninsula.

Read: Christians in shock after deadly attack on Coptic Church in Egypt