(CNN)Even by ISIS' brutal standards, the video is horrific. Twenty-one Coptic Christians beheaded on a beach in Libya. Christians across the world expressed horror and outrage at the mass killing, with Pope Francis calling the victims "martyrs" whose violent deaths should unite the fractured Christian community. Remarkably, though, a leading Coptic Christian bishop says that he has already forgiven the ISIS soldiers who slaughtered his fellow Copts. Bishop Angaelos, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom, was in Washington on Friday for the swearing-in of the United States' new ambassador-at-large for religious freedom, David Saperstein. Angaelos spoke to CNN about why ISIS targets Coptic Christians, and why he forgives them, even as he rejects their horrific acts.
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Christians across the world express horror and outrage at the mass murder of 21 Christians
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Bishop Angaelos, a Coptic Christian bishop, says he has already forgiven ISIS
Coptic Christians
Copts
Coptic Christians
This crime is not just a crime against @placeholder.
Christian
Coptic Christian
Coptic Orthodox Church
Coptic Christian
It may seem unbelievable to some of your readers, but as a @placeholder and a Christian minister I have a responsibility to myself and to others to guide them down this path of forgiveness.
Christians
Christians
But, as a Christian, I will never be comfortable just safeguarding the rights of @placeholder.