São Paulo – Last Sunday (4th), the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church chose bishop Tawadros for its new pope, a position left vacant after the death of the former patriarch, Shenouda III, last March. The newly elected pope will be in charge of leading the Egyptian Christians through the country’s post-Arab Spring transition, a time in which political and religious tension remains high. Approximately 10% of Egypt’s population are Christians.
Tawadros II is the 118th patriarch of the Coptic Church, which emerged in Alexandria in the early Christian Era. According to tradition, its founder was Saint Mark. Born Wagih Sobhi Baki Soliman, according to the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram, the new pope turned 60 years old last Sunday as well. He holds a degree in Pharmacy and, according to website Egypt Independent, he became a monk in 1988 and a bishop in 1997. He is the former assistant to archbishop Pachomios, who held the position of interim patriarch.
The choice of the new pope started with a committee of clergymen and laymen who selected five names, which were then voted by over 2,000 Coptic leaders, who chose three names. The three were then selected by raffle at Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo, as a blindfolded boy picked a paper with the winner’s name from a glass vessel.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
