Egypt's new Coptic Christian Pope Tawadros II [/caption]On 29 November, clerics 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 an eighth-century ritual involving a blindfolded child selecting the winner.
More than 2,400 clergymen and community leaders arrived to register their vote at the Coptic cathedral in Cairo, with millions of Egyptian Christians waiting to see who will become their leader following the death of the much-loved Pope Shenouda III in March.
As the cathedral’s radio broadcast old speeches by Pope Shenouda III around the vaulted, echoing nave, delegates cast their ballots in front of TV cameras that were broadcasting proceedings to Egypt’s estimated eight million Copts.
The top three were placed on a final shortlist, and were drawn up late at night. Last Sunday the final phase ended with a controversial ‘lottery’ system.
First used in the eighth century, a blindfolded child steps up to the alter of St Mark’s Cathedral and selects the winner at random from a box containing the three names.
The name selected was that of Bishop Tawadros, making him Egypt's 118th Coptic Pope.
The choice is critical, coming at a pivotal moment for Egypt’s Copts.
Following the loss of Pope Shenouda III, a highly revered leader affectionately referred to as ‘Baba’ by his followers, the community has been rudderless at a time when various political and religious groups are jockeying for power in post-Mubarak Egypt.
Despite the optimistic words of Patriarch Kyrillos VI, a former Pope who once claimed that Egypt’s Muslims and Christians were one people 'worshipping the same God in two different ways,' many Copts are feeling increasingly isolated.
The process of writing a new constitution has been dominated by an Islamist-led assembly, while elections since the fall of the old regime have revealed robust support for fundamentalists wanting to shoehorn Shari'a law onto the political agenda.
In addition, the poll comes after years of tensions over church-building permits and the highly combustible issues of conversions and intra-religious love affairs.
Whoever is selected on Sunday will not only have to overcome the towering legacy of his predecessor, but will also be required to negotiate an acceptable political settlement for his millions of followers.
“The Christian people in Egypt see the Pope as their father,” said Peter Ramses, a Coptic lawyer in Cairo. “He is the one speaking on behalf of the Christians to the government and to the president.”
According to Mr. Ramses, one of the main tasks awaiting the future pope will be securing the rights of Egypt’s Christians under the Muslim Brotherhood.
He also said that the thorny issue of Coptic marriage would need to be addressed—a major sore point for many Christians, who compare the stringent conditions under which couples are permitted to divorce to the relatively loose rules sanctioned under Islam.
