[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3954-3955]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          HONORING THE LIFE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE SHENOUDA III

  (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, this week, the world laid to rest in the 
Egyptian desert a holy and wise spiritual giant, Pope Shenouda III, the 
117th Pope of Alexandria and the patriarch of all Africa of the Coptic 
Orthodox Church. He passed on March 17.
  His Holiness Pope Shenouda III presided more than 40 years over a 
worldwide expansion of the Coptic Orthodox Church. During his papacy, 
he appointed the first-ever bishops to preside over North American 
dioceses. When His Holiness became Pope in 1971, there were only four 
churches in North America. Today, there are over 100.
  He championed a deep commitment to ecumenism interfaith dialogue, not 
just with Catholic groups--meeting the Roman Catholic Pope of Rome for 
the first time in over 1,500 years in the year of 1973--but he joined 
with Protestant churches as well as Islamic leaders and Muslim clerics. 
He was a man for the world.
  I had the honor of meeting the Pope at our local Coptic Christian 
church when it was being constructed. He was a man of immense faith, 
unforgettable. I never will forget his steady, strong, peaceful 
countenance when I asked him what it would take to achieve unity among 
the faith confessions, and he said: It would take love.
  His contributions to world understanding and bridging horizons yet 
unmet will flower in decades ahead and progress will move forward in 
his memory.

                [From the New York Times, Mar. 17, 2012]

           Coptic Pope Dies in Egypt Amid Church's Struggles

                           (By Kareem Fahim)

       Cairo.--Pope Shenouda III, who led the Coptic Orthodox 
     Church in Egypt for four decades, expanding the church's 
     presence around the world as he struggled, often 
     unsuccessfully, to protect his Christian minority at home, 
     died on Saturday after a long illness, state media reported.
       Pope Shenouda, who was 88, had suffered from cancer and 
     kidney problems for years.
       His death comes at a time of rising fears for Egypt's to 
     million Coptic Christians, who have felt increasingly 
     vulnerable since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak and amid 
     attacks on churches by hard-line Islamists and repression by 
     Egypt's security forces.
       The rise to power of conservative Islamist parties has also 
     raised concerns that Egyptian national identity is becoming 
     more closely bound to Islam.
       ``It's an injection of uncertainty for Copts at a time of 
     transition in the country,'' said Michael Wahid Hanna, a 
     fellow at the Century Foundation. ``Whether people were fond 
     of him or not, this will cause anxiety.''
       On Saturday night, hundreds of Coptic Christians gathered 
     at Cairo's main cathedral to grieve.
       Samir Youssef, a physician, called the pope ``an 
     intellectual, a poet--strong, charismatic.''
       ``On a personal level, I'm worried about the future. I 
     think there will be a conflict, the same chaos that followed 
     the 25th of January,'' he added, referring to the start of 
     the uprising last year.
       In a statement, President Obama praised Pope Shenouda as a 
     beloved ``advocate for tolerance and religious dialogue.'' 
     Egypt's interim rulers, the Supreme Council of the Armed 
     Forces, called on Egyptians to ``come together in solidarity 
     and be tolerant, to take Egypt toward security and 
     stability.''
       Pope Shenouda, who became patriarch in 1971, was known as a 
     charismatic, conservative leader for Egypt's Copts, who make 
     up about 10 percent of the population in the majority Sunni 
     nation.
       He filled a leadership vacuum as Copts--along with most 
     Egyptians--retreated from public life under authoritarian 
     rule, and he expanded the church's reach, especially in North 
     America. At the same time, he was criticized for what were 
     seen as his autocratic tendencies, which stifled internal 
     church changes, and his support for Mr. Mubarak's government, 
     given in return for a measure of protection that Copts 
     increasingly felt was insignificant.

[[Page 3955]]

       The failure to distance the church from Mr. Mubarak led to 
     greater disillusionment with the pope after the revolution, 
     especially among younger and more secular Copts.
       Pope Shenouda was born on Aug. 3, 1923, as Nazeer Gayed in 
     the city of Asyut, Egypt, according to a biography of the 
     patriarch posted on the church's Web site. He attended Cairo 
     University and became a monk in 1954.
       In 1981, Pope Shenouda was sent into internal exile by 
     President Anwar Sadat, with whom he clashed after complaining 
     about discrimination against the Copts. Mr. Mubarak ended 
     that exile in 1985, with an informal understanding that Pope 
     Shenouda would be less vocal in pointing out discrimination, 
     according to Mariz Tadros, a researcher at the University of 
     Sussex and the author of a forthcoming book on the Copts.
       That understanding was severely strained in the past decade 
     after a series of deadly clashes between Copts and Muslims, 
     and charges that the state, and especially its security 
     services, stoked the sectarian divide. After 21 people were 
     killed in a church bombing last year, some Copts criticized 
     the pope for not confronting the government.
       The Coptic Church's own policies, including its almost 
     total ban on divorce, have also increased tensions. Some have 
     left the church specifically to divorce, either choosing 
     another denomination or officially converting to Islam, then 
     sometimes converting back after the split.
       The conversions have incited rumors that have led to 
     episodes of Muslim-Christian violence.
       The next pope will face a growing desire among many Copts 
     to expand the community's leadership, analysts said. Under 
     Pope Shenouda, ``the church became the de facto political 
     representative of the Copts,'' Mr. Hanna said. ``That became 
     increasingly problematic.''

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