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| Africa North |
| Pope of Egypt's Coptic Christians dies |
| 2012-03-17 |
| Pope Shenouda III, the patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church who led Egypt's Christian minority for 40 years during a time of increasing tensions with Muslims, has died. He was 88. The state news agency MENA said Shenouda died yesterday after battling liver and lung problems for several years. A Coptic Church TV station ran a picture of the pope, with a running feed reading, "The Coptic Church prays to God that he rest in peace between the arms of saints." The patriarch, known in Arabic as Baba Shenouda, headed one of the most ancient churches in the world, which traced it founding to St Mark, who is said to have brought Christianity to Egypt in the 1st Century during the reign of the Roman emperor Nero. For Egypt's estimated 10 million Coptic Christians, he was a religious thinker and a charismatic leader, known for his sense of humour - his smiling portrait was hung in many Coptic homes and shops. Above all, many Copts saw him as the guardian of their minority living amid a majority Muslim population in this country of more than 80 million people. Shenouda sought to do so by striking a conservative balance. During the rule of President Hosni Mubarak, he gave strong support to his government, while avoiding pressing Coptic demands too vocally in public to prevent a backlash from Muslim conservatives. After Mubarak's fall a year ago, Christians grew increasingly worried over the rising power of Muslim conservatives. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #1 Will the enlightened revolutionary Egypt allow a replacement to be named? |
| Posted by: Gabby Cussworth 2012-03-17 22:16 |