Shockingly not shocking.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday led condemnation of a New Year’s Day bomb attack in a Coptic church in Egypt that claimed 21 lives, urging world leaders to defend Christians against abuse.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church was the first religious leader to react to the bombing which targeted worshippers as they emerged from a midnight mass in Alexandria.

In his homily at New Year’s Day mass, the pope spoke of mounting tensions, “especially discrimination, abuse and religious intolerance which are today striking Christians in particular.”

…The Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas also condemned the attack, saying it was “certain it was the work of elements acting against the interests of Egypt and looking to promote confrontation between Muslims and Christians” (da Jooos -ed.).

A top Shiite Muslim leader in Lebanon, Sheikh Abdel Amir Kabalan, denounced the attack as a “terrorist act aimed at sowing chaos and fear in Egypt”.

“This terrorist act bears the fingerprints of Zionists who keep on targeting religious sights and are working to … sow discord between Muslims and Christians,” Kabalan said in a statement.