Cairo: Bishop Tawadros of the Egyptian Delta province of Beheira was on Sunday named the 118th pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church.
A blindfolded boy picked Tawadors’ name placed along the names of two other candidates inside a glass urn on the altar of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo.
Bishoy Girgis Masaad, the altar boy who picked the Tawadros’ name from a chalice, was chosen from among 12 children and later told state television he had wanted Tawadros to win. The three pieces of paper were all the same size, tied up the same way and placed in the box.
Tawadros’ papal choice coincided with his 60th birthday and was announced by the acting Pope Pachomius following a four-hour Mass. The announcement was applauded by clapping from the audience who packed the cathedral.
The other two contenders were Bishop Rafael and Father Rafael Ava Mina. The three got the highest votes in a ballot held last week.
Known for tolerance and interest in better links with Muslim compatriots, Tawadros qualified as a pharmacist before becoming a priest in 1989.
He succeeds the charismatic Pope Shenouda III, who died in March after leading the Church for more than four decades.
“May God guide him to follow in the footsteps of Pope Shenouda,” Hani Morqos, a Coptic business administration student, told Gulf News. “I hope he [Tawadros] will reach out to Coptic young people and make the right decisions at the right time,” added Morqos as he and his elderly mother were leaving the cathedral after the ceremony.
Hundreds of security forces were deployed outside the huge cathedral in the Cairo area of Abbasiya as Christian scouts kept guiding worshippers into the place.
Meanwhile, a camera was fixed on the urn, which contained the names of the three contenders, and relayed the view as well as the Mass to a legion of media people kept in a designated area.
The new pontiff, who will henceforth carry the name Tawadros II, will be enthroned on November 18 in Cairo. His selection will have to be endorsed by the Islamist head of the state.
Tawadros takes over at a time when Egypt’s Islamists led by the Muslim Brotherhood are in command.
Christians, who make up around 10 per cent of Egypt’s predominantly Muslim population, have been increasingly worried about their status since a popular uprising toppled long-standing president Hosni Mubarak in February last year and propelled Islamists into the spotlight.
The Brotherhood’s Mohammad Mursi became in June Egypt’s first elected civilian and Islamist president. Despite Mursi’s repeated pledges to protect Christians’ rights, they feel apprehensive about their freedoms in post-Mubarak Egypt.
