Sunday, November 04, 2012

New pope chosen for Egypt's Copts

BBC News
Bishop Tawadros has been chosen as the new pope of Egypt's Coptic Christians, becoming leader of the largest Christian minority in the Middle East.

His name was selected from a glass bowl by a blindfolded boy at a ceremony in Cairo's St Mark's Cathedral. Three candidates had been shortlisted.

The 60-year-old succeeds Pope Shenouda III, who died in March aged 88.

He succeeds as attacks on Copts are on the increase, and many say they fear the country's new Islamist leaders.

The other two candidates were Bishop Raphael and Father Raphael Ava Mina. They were chosen in a ballot by a council of some 2,400 Church and community officials in October.
 And
The new pope has studied in Britain, and has also run a medicine factory, the BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo reports.

He is a man of broad experience and with managerial skills, our correspondent says, adding that he will need all those talents to lead the Copts as they face an uncertain future in a country now debating the role of Islam following last year's revolution.
This new Pope seems to be a bit of a technocrat.  Unfortunately, the BBC article doesn't really tell me anything about the man himself.  I realize it is probably not a priority for Copts, but I am most interested in seeing if this Pope will continue his predecessor's efforts towards unity among the Christian churches.  I wonder if unity would be helpful to the Copts in their struggles in Egypt.

2 comments:

Jacob said...

I doubt it will do much. Even churches that are in communion with Rome don't get a lot of press through the Vatican's influence as far as I can see.

Jon Marc said...

It would not - they're already overly associated with the Roman Catholic Crusaders as it is. News of the Coptic Orthodox Church's submission to the Vatican would just cement Muslims' view of it as an alien institution.