In accordance with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI, the Coptic Catholic Synod elected the new Patriarch as successor of Cardinal Antonius Najīb. Due to his health condition, the 77-years-old former Cardinal has resigned.
His Successor Ibrāhīm Ishāq Sidrāk was born on August 19, 1955 in Banī Shukayr, Asyut Governorate and ordained to priesthood in (February 7) 1980; he served the Parish of Saint Michael Church of Hadā’iq al-Qubbah in Cairo. In 1988, he obtained a doctorate in theology from the Gregorian University in Rome and taught in the Coptic Catholic Seminary in Ma’ādī and served as rector of the same from 1999 (Correct year: 1990) till 2000 (Correct year: 2001). He, then, was the dean of the Institute of Religious Sciences in Sakakīnī, Cairo, before becoming Bishop of Coptic Catholic Diocese of al-Minya in 2002 (Author not mentioned, Watanī, Jan.27, p. 3). Read original text in Arabic.
(Author’s Note: All the facts corrected in the article were checked from Catholic Hierarchy and Wikipedia websites).
