November 03, 2012: On Sunday the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria will choose
a new Bishop of Alexandria – who holds the title of ‘Pope’ – to succeed Shenouda III,
who died in March of this year. During Sunday’s liturgy, a blindfolded altar boy
will choose the name of one of three candidates who were chosen earlier this week.
The three finalists were chosen in a lengthy process that involved input from bishops,
priests and laity from around the world. The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria
is the largest Christian Church in the Middle East, counting tens of millions of adherents
in Egypt and around the world. “Christians are probably looking forward to the
new pope to provide some safety, some comfort, some relief that there is a leader
they can turn to in their own difficult times,” says Michael Meunier, the head of
the US Copts Association. He spoke with Vatican Radio’s Christopher Wells about the
importance of the election of a new Pope, and about the situation of Christians in
Egypt today. “This is a very sensitive time for Christians in Egypt,” he says,
“having gone through a revolution that we initially thought was bringing democracy
and religious freedom to Egypt, and ended up bringing Islamism and anti-Chritianism
into the public domain.” Mr Meunier says, “Egypt is being Islamised. Egypt has
about 18 million Christians. . . and those 18 millions are finding themselves persecuted
day in and day out, and things are getting tougher by the day.”