God Bless The New Coptic Pope Tawdros

By: Elias Bejjani
With great joy, faith, hope and thanks to the gracious Almighty God, we extend our genuine and heartily felt Congratulation to the Egyptian Coptic Christians and to all Coptic communities and congregations all over the world for the blessed heavenly choice of their new blessed Pope, Tawdros.
It is worth mentioning that the faithful Egyptian Christians are like Saint Peter, a Godly rock and a role model for all that is peace, faith, endurance, forgiveness, love, martyrdom, and tolerance. No Christian community in any country or era for the last 2012 years have endured cruel persecution, hardships and all kind of hatred and rejection atrocities more than the Coptic's in Egypt did. But because of their deeply rooted Christian faith they stood tall, refused to convert or abandon Jesus' great grace of being Christians.
The Coptic historical on going struggle and fights were never faced and fought by earthly and evil weapons, but with mere peaceful means, love, forgiveness and martyrdom.
As was the Coptic faith strong, rocky and Godly during the early years of Christianity, it is still the same nowadays, and definitely shall never ever wither or get weaker.
The Coptic Church was a rock of faith and genuine Christianity, and by God's will shall remain so under the wise and holy leadership of Pope Tawdros, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
Blessed are you Pope Tawdros. You are God's choice to guard and protect your Church and people.

You are the good Sheppard who knows his people and his people knows him.

Almighty God has entrusted you with the apostolic mission of witnessing for Him, We will pray that you shall be capable to carry on this mission with modesty, love, success and openness.

Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Elias Bejjani's Face Book site http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=602442765#!/



Background
Egypt's Coptic church names Tawdros as new pope

By REUTERS 11/04/2012 12:06 Bishop Tawdros replaces Pope Shenouda III who died in March; many look to pope to ensure Christian voice is heard in Egypt. Photo: Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters

CAIRO - The Coptic Orthodox church chose a new pope, Bishop Tawdros, on Sunday to lead the Middle East's biggest Christian community after dramatic political changes in Egypt swept Islamists to power.In a sumptuous ritual filled with prayer, chants and incense at Abbasiya cathedral in Cairo, the 60-year-old bishop's name was picked by a blindfolded child from a glass bowl in which the names of two other candidates had also been placed. Tawadros replaces Pope Shenouda III who led the church for four decades until he died in March aged 88. Many will look to the new pope to ensure the voice of Christians, who have long complained of discrimination in Egypt, are heard.

In a ritual steeped in tradition and filled with prayer, chants and incense at Abbasiya cathedral in Cairo, the names of three candidates chosen in a vote were placed in a wax sealed glass bowl, and a child pulls out one name at random. Copts believe this long-established process ensures that worldly influences do not determine the successor to Pope Shenouda III, who led the church for four decades until he died in March aged 88. Many Christians in Egypt, who make up about a tenth of the population of 83 million, are worried by political gains made by Islamists since Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year. They have long complained of discrimination in Muslim-majority Egypt. "We pray that our Lord chooses a good shepherd," interim Pope Bakhomious, who has temporarily held the post since Shenouda's death, said in his gold-embroidered white robes after placing the names in the bowl and sealing it with hot red wax.

"We are all witnesses before the Lord," he told the congregation in the packed cathedral in the centre of Cairo, where priests swung censers that wafted incense into the air.

The other two candidates were: Bishop Rafael, a 54-year old who qualified as a doctor before entering the priesthood and Father Rafael Afamena, a 70-year old monk who studied law before entering the priesthood. Voters whittled the candidates down to three from a field which included leading members of the church, public figures and a handful of representatives of the Ethiopian Church, which has historic links to the church in Egypt. That ballot was held last week.Echoing the worries of many of Egypt's Copts, shopkeeper Michael George said before the service: "Christians fear the Islamists' rule especially because their presence is encouraging radicals to act freely."Since Mubarak was ousted, there have been several attacks on churches by radical Islamists. Those incidents have fuelled longstanding complaints that Christians are sidelined in the workplace and in law. Rules that make it harder to obtain official permission to build a church rather than a mosque have added to those fears.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the mainstream Islamist movement that propelled President Mohamed Mursi to power, has sworn to guard the rights of Christians in the overwhelmingly majority Sunni Muslim nation