Egyptian Coptic Church pick new Pope

The Egyptian Coptic Church on Sunday chose a new leader by a blindfolded altar boy picking from a cup the name of a former pharmacist turned priest to become Pope Tawadros II. 

Bishop Tawadros, 60, soon to be Pope Tawadros II greets well-wishers after being named the 118th Coptic Pope in the Wadi Natrun Monastery complex near Cairo Photo: AP

Bishop Tawadros will be the 118th Patriarch of the worldwide Coptic Orthodox movement, but the first to be formally appointed by a Muslim Brotherhood president.

That process is a formality and the president, Mohammed Morsi, who was elected in June following the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak last year, has already sent a letter of congratulations. But Mr Morsi's role has highlighted the fears of many Egyptian Christians that their freedoms will be squeezed under a new Islamist-dominated government. 

In accordance with church by-laws, the selection process to replace Pope Shenouda III, who led the church for 40 years before his death in March at the age of 88, took place in three stages. A papal nominations committee of 18 senior Copts, half lay and half bishops, produced a shortlist of five from 17 original candidates. 

Last Monday, those candidates were reduced to three in an election by 2,400 electors, and those three were then submitted to yesterday's ceremony when their names were written on bound pieces of paper and picked from a chalice. Copts believe the "Altar Lottery" allows God to choose their shepherd. "Today is a very historic day in the life of the Coptic Orthodox church," said Bishop Surial of Melbourne who travelled from Australia to attend the ceremony. "With the altar lottery, we thank divine providence for providing to us a wonderful and amazing new Patriarch." 

Pope Shenouda spent years in internal exile under former President Anwar Sadat but later became close to President Hosni Mubarak, ending his patriarchate in controversial circumstances. He was widely felt to have lost support from parts of his flock, particularly the young, over his refusal to abandon the old regime in the face of the protests that overthrew it. Many young Christian activists led those protests, and some Copts said they wanted the new Pope to stay out of politics. 

Kamal Zakher Moussa, coordinator of the activist group Secular Coptic Current, said: "Now we have an Islamic regime mixing religion and the state, they will try to pull the Pope into politics. I hope he doesn't respond, and leaves it to secular Copts to get involved." The new Pope's inauguration will take place on November 18. Mr Morsi will be invited, but has given an ambiguous response, the church authorities say, indicating that he will either attend or visit Bishop Tawadros to offer congratulations in person.

Source :- www.telegraph.co.u