EGYPT: A frail pope and sectarian tensions

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It’s been a time of prayer and angst for Egypt’s Coptic Christians.

The leader of the nation’s Coptic Church, Pope Shenouda III, was reportedly flown this week to a U.S. hospital after breaking his leg in a fall at his residence. The 85-year-old patriarch has been in frail health for years, and his latest travail comes during rising tension in this predominantly Muslim nation over the murders and kidnappings of Copts.

On Monday, the pope “slipped on a carpet in his home and fell, breaking his thigh bone,’ Tharwat Bassily, a member of the church’s lay council, told Agenece France-Presse. He added that Shenouda was unable to reach the telephone and remained alone on the floor from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak arranged for the pope to be transported in his state jet to a hospital in Cleveland.

The Coptic church and the Mubarak government have been attempting to defuse a resurgence of sectarian animosity. In May, four Copts were shot dead in a Cairo jewelry shop by a man firing an automatic weapon who fled without stealing anything. Days later, armed Muslims attacked a monastery in the southern town of Malawi; one Muslim was killed and several Coptic priests were briefly taken hostage.

Egypt has prided itself on peaceful coexistence among its religious groups, but Copts, who make up about 10% of the country’s population of 78 million, have often complained of discrimination. Coptic protesters in Malawi recently chanted: “With our blood and soul, we will defend the cross.... Coptic hearts are on fire.�

-- Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo