Egypt’s Coptic Christians chose three finalists yesterday for a new leader to succeed Pope Shenuda III, who died in March leaving behind a community anxious about its status under an Islamist-led government.
Nearly 2,500 eligible voters made up of Coptic public officials, MPs, journalists, local councillors voted throughout the day in Cairo’s St Mark’s Cathedral, seat of the Coptic papacy, to choose from among five candidates.
Shenuda III, a careful, pragmatic leader, died at a critical time for the increasingly beleaguered minority which faced a surge in sectarian attacks after an uprising overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in early 2011.
The next patriarch will be the main contact of the community with Egypt’s new Islamist president. The Coptic pope serves as the spiritual leader of the country’s Christians, who make up between six and 10 per cent of Egypt’s 83-million population.
“We always elect our pope in a critical time in the country’s history. The last two popes were elected at the start of two Egyptian presidents’ rule,” said Shaker Talaat, a volunteer.
Five candidates – two bishops and three monks – vied to become the 118th Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa in the Holy See of St Mark the Apostle. Yesterday, the three top vote-getters were announced by the church.
They are Bishop Rafael, 54, a medical doctor and current assistant bishop for central Cairo; Bishop Tawadros of the Nile Delta province of Beheira, 60; Father Rafael Ava Mina, the oldest of the five candidates at 70.
Their names will now be written on separate pieces of paper and placed in a box on the altar of St Mark’s Cathedral.
On Sunday, a child will be blindfolded and asked to choose one piece of paper. The person selected will be enthroned in a ceremony on November 18.
“We hope that God will give us a man who is attentive to our problems, and conscious of our unity,” said Father Kirollos as he voted earlier.
Another priest, Boktor Nassim, hoped that the next pope will be like his predecessor Shenuda who had “special relations with all groups, including the (Islamist) Muslim Brotherhood.”