Egypt’s New Coptic Pope Speaks out on Range of Issues

Egypt’s new Coptic Orthodox pope, Tawadros II, elected earlier this week, has been interviewed by several private television channels, in which he spoke frankly about a number of critical issues facing Egypt’s Coptic-Christian community.

For one, Tawadros has stressed that the church has “no political role,” as this should be reserved for Egypt’s political parties. The church, he said, should only play a “spiritual and social role,” noting that overlaps between the two could potentially lead to disturbances within society.

Tawadros has also stressed his agreement with late pope Shenouda III’s decision to ban Egypt’s Copts from visiting Jerusalem until the issue of Palestine has been justly resolved.

“There’s a peace treaty between the governments [of Egypt and Israel], but the Egyptian public rejects the notion of normalisation with Israel,” he said. “We won’t encourage Copts to visit Jerusalem, as we can’t accept the idea of Copts selling out the Arab cause.”

Pope Tawadros II has also voiced his rejection of a parliamentary quota for Coptic MPs.

“Rather, we must gradually prepare Egyptian society, with the support of political parties, to accept Coptic parliamentarians – only 30 in the beginning, perhaps, before gradually increasing the percentage of Coptic representatives,” he said.

FULL ARTICLE FROM AHRAM ONLINE 

Christians’ Fears in the Arab World

By OSMAN MIRGHANI

Pope Shenouda III has passed away, having led the largest Christian denomination in the Arab world for four decades. He deservedly received widespread tributes from across Egypt, with the exception of the unexpected conduct of some MPs affiliated to the Salafist al-Nour party who chose not to attend a People’s Assembly session, in order to avoid participating in a minute’s silence for the deceased, whilst another group refused to stand for the minute’s silence, instead remaining in their seats, prompting widespread arguments among Egyptians and others. These acts, and the controversy that accompanied them, reflect a major problem that Egypt, and even the region, will face in the days to come. This is a problem concerning the status of Christians in the Arab world and the underlying concerns with the rise to power of political Islamist movements in a belt extending from Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Sudan to Egypt. This area has the greatest population density in the Arab world, and could extend towards the Levant. There are those who believe that a change is inevitably coming in Syria and the Islamists will come to power there, with reference to the presence of Hamas in power in Gaza, the activity of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, and the Islah bloc in Yemen.

FULL ARTICLE FROM AL ARABIYA (ENGLISH VERSION) 

Pope of Egyptian Church Proposes Dialogue with Islamists Following Election

Pope Shenouda III, head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church, held a meeting on Thursday with a delegation from the Anglican Church concerning a proposal to begin dialogue with Islamist groups that recently won a significant number of seats in parliamentary elections.

Shenouda and a number of senior bishops in the Orthodox Church met with the delegation, which was led by the head of the Anglican Communion, Safwat al-Bayaadi.

A church source told the state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) that the participants in the meeting discussed means of holding constructive dialogue with Islamists following their triumph in the elections. The participants agreed to respect the people’s choice in Egypt’s first democratic elections, irrespective of the results.

The Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafi-oriented Nour Party have so far won the majority of seats in ongoing parliamentary elections that began on 28 November.