Coptic Catholics ordain new patriarch

Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak has been ordained as the new Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria. The service took place on Tuesday at Virgin Mary Cathedral in Nasr City, Cairo, and was attended by several national politicians and public figures including Samir Morqos, Amr Moussa, George Ishak, Yehia el-Gamal, Mounir Fakhri, Abdel Nour, Nadia Zakhari, Hamdeen Sabahi, Amr Hamzawi and the Governor of Giza Ali Abdel Rahman. Egypt's Grand Chamberlain, Major General Abdel Muamen Abdel Bassir, was representing the office of President Mohammed Morsi, and Prime Minister Hisham Kandil had delegated his duties to Minister for Legal Affairs and Parliamentary Councils Amr Salem. The enthronement ceremony was read by Metropolitan Yuhanna Kolta, after which the newly-ordained patriarch took his seat on the patriarchal throne as bishops queued to take his blessing. Sidrak was born on August 19, 1955 in Asyut province, Upper Egypt. He was ordained a priest in 1980, and was promoted to Bishop of the Menya in 2002. On January 15, he was elected the sixth Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria, succeeding Cardinal Antonius Naguib.