Egypt’s Copts choose new Pope

Egypt’s Coptic Christians vote on Monday for a new leader to succeed Pope Shenuda III, who died in March after heading the church for four decades. Five candidates two bishops and three monks are vying to become the 118th Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa in the Holy See of St Mark the Apostle. A council of senior clergy, current and former Coptic public officials, MPs, local councilors and journalists will cast a vote for their preferred candidate. The names of the top three vote-getters will then be written on separate pieces of paper and placed in a box on the altar of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo. On November 4, a child will be blindfolded and asked to choose one of the papers. The person chosen will be enthroned in a ceremony on November 18. The candidates are Bishop Rafael, 54, a medical doctor and current assistant bishop for central Cairo; Bishop Tawadros of the Nile Delta province of Beheira, 60; Father Rafael Ava Mina, the oldest of the five candidates at 70; Father Seraphim al-Souriani, 53 and Father Pachomious al-Suriani, 49.