Lebanese Leaders Congratulate Egypt's New Coptic Pope

Lebanon's top leaders congratulated on Sunday Egypt's new Coptic Pope Bishop Tawadros, hoping his selection would lead to dialogue between the Egyptian people and unity among Muslims and Christians in the region.

In a statement he issued after the church chose the new pope in an elaborate ceremony, Speaker Nabih Berri said the selection of Tawadros' name from a chalice by a blindfolded boy “was a lesson in democracy that should be adopted in the Arab world at all levels.”

At the televised ceremony held in the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo, acting Pope Pachomios laid the names of three candidates in clear balls inside a chalice before starting Mass. There was a moment of silence before the drawing by the boy, an act believed to reflect God's will in the choice.

Pachomios took the ballot from the boy's hand and, showing it to those crowded into St. Mark's Cathedral, announced: "Bishop Tawadros."

The crowd erupted in cheers and applause as church bells tolled in celebration across the country.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati also hoped Tawadros' selection “would lead to dialogue and frankness between the Egyptian people and would consolidate Islamic-Christian unity so that the Middle East stays an oasis of peace and coexistence.”

“The new pope's repeated stances on the brotherly ties between Christians and Muslims … consolidate hopes for a renaissance for the Coptic church,” he said ahead of his trip to Bulgaria and Hungary.

Tawadros will assume the papacy as Egypt's Christians, estimated to make up 10 percent of the country's 83 million people, fear for their future amid the rise of Islamists to power in the wake of the 2011 ouster of longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.

The death of Pope Shenuda III at the age 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.