The priest said he feared young people will "turn their backs on the Church" and say, "You never stood with us ... you never taught us to stand up for our rights."

Maryknoll Father Douglas May, who worked in Egypt for 18 years of Mubarak's nearly 30-year rule that came to an end Feb. 11, said he thought "the Christian leaders in Egypt played it safe."

"I'm afraid that the Church leadership has lost its credibility with the Christian youth over this," said May, now stationed in Nairobi.

Both priests, who have indults to minister to Coptic- and Latin-rite Catholics, spoke of discrimination that Christians faced under Mubarak's rule and that of his predecessor, Anwar Sadat. In separate interviews with Catholic News Service in the days following Mubarak's resignation, they said that any permit to do with a church building — even repainting it — had to be signed by the former president.

"We had to wait 21 years to get a permit," said Isaac. Even after the permit was granted, he said, state or local officials could stop construction for "security issues."

May, who left Egypt in 2007 but still visits at least twice a year, said that in the town of Dalga, Coptic Orthodox literally worship underground because they have not had a permit for a church for 20 years. In the same town, a mosque was built next to a Catholic church, and local authorities closed down the church because Muslims complained that the long Sunday liturgies were interfering with their noon call to prayer.

He said that, as a foreign priest, he was often called in by the Egyptian secret police, which he said had spies at the Coptic Catholic seminary where he taught. He said police would mention that the bishop was not going to attend a meeting — when no one else knew that — and even repeated back to the American things he had said in confidence to four seminarians.

Both priests also spoke of discrimination against Christians. In the Egyptian army, said May, discrimination was constant.

"There's a fair amount of conversion" to Islam in the military because of the pressure, he said. Christians are called "mushrik," which means someone who believes in many gods or is an idol worshipper. He compared it to calling an American "the N-word."

Isaac said everyone in Egypt was expecting some sort of explosion, not a fairly peaceful revolution, because there are "not enough jobs, everything's so expensive." He added there is "great hope" about the country's future — including that whoever leads Egypt will be concerned not to make the same mistakes as Mubarak, "because they can see the power of the people."

May said he thought it was too early to tell how things would turn out for Egypt's Christians.

"If Muslims and Christians can see that their destinies are linked as Egyptians ... there's a chance that this could get better," he said.