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On Monday, 2,405 eligible voters will cast ballots in an election to choose the 118th Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria in the history of the Coptic Orthodox Church. In addition, five representatives from the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church will attend the conclave. The final list has five nominees:
- Fr Pachomious el-Syriani, a monk at the Syrian Monastery of the Mother of God in Wadi el Natroun
- Fr Rafael Ava Mina, a monk at the Monastery of St Mina in Alexandria
- Bishop Rafael, the Auxiliary Bishop of Central Cairo and Heliopolis, a member of the Holy Synod
- Fr Serafim el-Syriani, a monk at the Syrian Monastery of the Mother of God in Wadi el Natroun
- Bishop Tawdros, the Auxiliary Bishop of Beheira
The papal election will be at St Mark Cathedral in Abbassia. Ballot counting will start immediately after the vote, and the top three winners will compete in an “altar lottery” on 4 November, before naming of the winning candidate on the very same day. The election will be in one booth, which will have eight ballot boxes, one of which will be dedicated to immigrant voters. A representative from the Interior Ministry will monitor the vote.
28 October 2012
All Africa
http://allafrica.com/stories/201210290503.html
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Yesterday, Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church moved a step closer to picking a new patriarch when the shortlist was whittled down to three in a process the Christian minority hopes will deliver a leader to guide them through the upheaval of the Arab Spring. Patriarch Shenouda Roufail led the church for four decades until his death in March at the age of 88. His successor will assume the post in a fast-changing Egypt where long-oppressed Islamists are now in power… a major shift that is a source of alarm for the minority Christian community. A shortlist of five candidates went down to three by an election in which 2,256 voted out of 2,417 eligible voters. The person who emerges as the 118th Coptic Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria will be decided on 4 November, when a blindfolded child picks one of the candidates. The final three contenders are:
- Bishop Rafael (54), who qualified as a doctor before entering the priesthood
- Bishop Tawdros (60), who qualified as a pharmacist before becoming a priest
- Fr Rafael Afamena (70), a monk who previously studied law
30 October 2012
Irish Times
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/1030/1224325894572.html
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Yesterday, clergy from the Coptic Orthodox Church began casting ballots to decide who will become the leader of the Middle East’s largest Christian minority… a process that ends with a ritual involving a blindfolded child selecting the winner at random. More than 2,400 clergymen arrived to register their vote at the Coptic cathedral in Cairo, following the death of Patriarch Shenouda Roufail in March. On Sunday, the process will end with a “lottery”.
30 October 2012
The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/egypt-blind-child-to-pick-coptic-pope-8231619.html
