REPUBLIKA.CO.ID,  CAIRO - Egypt's ancient Coptic Christian church named a new pope on Sunday, chosen in an elaborate ceremony where a blindfolded boy drew the name of the next patriarch from a crystal chalice, Bishop Tawadros. The Brotherhood and its leader, Mohammed Badie, congratulated the church and Tawadros in statements on Sunday.

Bishop Tawadros will be ordained Nov. 18 as Pope Tawadros II. The new Pope will be the spiritual leader of a community that increasingly fears for its future amid the rise of Islamists to power in the aftermath of last year's uprising.

Many Copts, estimated to make up 10 percent of the country's 83 million people, will look to Tawadros to fill a void in leadership following the death of Pope Shenouda III, who led the church for 40 years. Shenouda's death at the of 88 this year heightened the sense of insecurity felt by many who had known him as patriarch for all or most of their lives.

Egypt's Coptic Christians have long complained of discrimination by the state and the country's Muslim majority. Clashes with Muslims have occasionally broken out, often sparked by church construction, land disputes or Muslim-Christian love affairs.

The prospects of a stronger role for Islamic law in legislation increase the community's concern of further marginalization, or of curtailing their rights of worship and expression.

All three senior clerics whose names were in the chalice were considered consensus candidates who stayed out of disputes both within the church and with other groups, including Islamists.

A former pharmacist 

There was a moment of silence before the drawing by the blindfolded boy, an act believed to reflect God's will in the choice. None of the candidates attended the ceremony, and are instead praying in their respective monasteries. 

Amid heavy police security around the Cairo cathedral, thousands of worshippers erupted in applause, tears and prayer when his name was announced. "I hope the new pope will listen to the youth of our community," 20 year-old engineering student Kirolos Zakaria said.

Volunteering at the Mass, 27 year-old Peter Nasser said he hopes the new pope will raise the profile of Christians in Egypt. "The situation for us in Egypt is not stable," he said. "We hope the incoming pope will make our problems known to the outside world."

Tawadros faces tremendous challenges as the country's transition to democracy is marred by a deep rift between increasingly politically powerful Islamist groups, from which the country's new president hails, and the liberal and secularist groups who were initially behind the revolt that ousted Mubarak last year.

At the center of the political squabbling in Egypt is the role of Islam in the country's new constitution, currently being drafted. The Christians, along with liberal and secularists, oppose demands by Islamists to increase the role of Islamic Shariah law. Morsi has named a number of Christians as advisors and vowed to work closely with the community, but Christians are skeptical. 

According to Egypt's state-run MENA news agency, the new pope was born Wagih Sahby Baqi Soleiman. He is a former pharmacist who graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1975 from the main university in Egypt's northern coastal city of Alexandria before studying in England in 1985. He briefly managed a government-run pharmaceutical lab in Egypt until he went to a monastery in Wadi Natrun in 1986 where he studied religion for two years. He was ordained a priest in 1989.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika