Election To Choose New Pope Of Egypt’s Ancient Christian Church Held In Cairo

In this Monday, Oct. 29, 2012 photo, Coptic Bishops pray prior to a press conference held to announce the three finalist candidates for the new Coptic Pope in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt’s ancient Coptic Christian church named a new pope on Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012 to spiritually guide the community through a time when many fear for their future with the rise of Islamists to power and deterioration in police powers after last year’s uprising. <AP Photo/George Mohsen, El Shorouk Newspaper>

Acting Coptic Pope Pachomios, center, displays the name of 60-year-old Bishop Tawadros, soon to be Pope Tawadros II, while another clergyman displays the names of the remaining two candidates, Bishop Raphael and Father Raphael Ava Mina, during the papal election ceremony at the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012. Egypt’s ancient Coptic Christian church chose a new pope in an elaborate Sunday ceremony meant to invoke the will of God, in which a blindfolded boy drew the name of the next patriarch from a crystal chalice.

Acting Coptic Pope Pachomios, center, blindfolds the boy elected to draw the name of the next patriarch from a crystal chalice, during the papal election ceremony at the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012. Bishop Tawadros will be ordained Nov. 18 as Pope Tawadros II, the spiritual leader of a community that increasingly fears for its future amid the rise of Islamists to power in the wake of the 2011 ouster of longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.

Acting Coptic Pope Pachomios, left, displays the name of the new Pope Tawadros II, depicted in the large poster, background, during the papal election ceremony at the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012. <AP Photo/Nasser Nasser>