New Coptic Pope installed to lead church in Islamist-run Egypt

The Coptic Orthodox church staged a ceremony rich in ritual today to install its pope, Tawadros II, who Christians hope will guide them through the new, Islamist-led Egypt. The 60-year-old pope was picked on Nov. 4 and the ceremony on Sunday filled with incense, elaborate robes and chanting marked his formal ascendance as the 118th leader of the chruch. Coptic Christians, whose church predates the arrival of Islam in Egypt, make up a tenth of Egypt's 83 million people. Many fear their community, the biggest Christian group in the Middle East which has long complained of discrimination, will be squeezed to the sidelines of society under Islamists now ruling the Muslim-majority nation. "We chose him because he is man who is obedient to God," said Bishop Bakhomious, who was pope in the interim period after Shenouda III died aged 88 in March after four decades in office. "God had listened to our prayers and did not wish to leave us orphans for long," he added, as priests and bishops prayed for the new pope, dressing him in lavish embroidered vestments. In the final stages, a red and gold mitre was placed on his head before he sat on a throne. The bearded and bespectacled pope trained...