The Coptic Catholic Church of Egypt announced yesterday that Bishop Ibrāhīm Ishāq of al-Minya Governorate has been elected new Patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church to replace Patriarch Antonius Najīb.

 

The spokesman of the Church Father Rafīq Greish said that the official announcement by the Holy Synod of Coptic Catholic Bishops was scheduled for coming Friday, January 18. However, the decision was then declared yesterday (Jan. 16), directly after the election. He added that preliminary procedures have to be completed before the inaugural Mass scheduled for coming March is then celebrated. The election of the new patriarch requires the approval of the Holy See of the Catholic Church Pope Benedict XVI.

 

Born on August 19 in 1955 in Banī Shuqayr village of Asyut Governorate, the new Patriarch was ordained a priest on February 7 in 1980 and served the Coptic Catholic Diocese of Archangel Mikhail Church of Hadāyīq al-Qubah and Malīhah, Cairo. He continued his studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1988, where he graduated with a licentiate in dogmatic Theology ('Imād Khalīl, al-Misrī al-Yawm, Jan. 17, p. 3). Read original text in Arabic.

 

Rose al-Yūsuf reported on the same article in which it added that the decision of the Holy Synod was made after a one-month retreat of all the bishops during which prayers were raised for a sound election of the new patriarch.