VATICAN CITY, MARCH 20, 2012 thanks to Zenit.org
On learning of the death of the Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church His
Holiness Shenouda III, Patriarch of Alexandria, the Holy Father Benedict XVI
sent a message of condolence:
“Learning with sadness of the passing to God, our common Father,
of His Holiness Shenouda III, Patriarch of Alexandria and of the Preaching of
St. Mark, I wish to express to the members of the Holy Synod, to the priests
and the faithful of the whole patriarchate, my deepest sentiments of fraternal
compassion,” the message said.
“I can likewise say that the whole Catholic Church shares in the
sadness that afflicts the Orthodox Copts and that she fervently prays to him
who is the resurrection and the life, asking that he welcome his faithful
servant. May the all-merciful God receive him into his joy, his peace and his
light,” the Pope said.
Cardinal Peter Erdo, president of the Council of European Bishops’
Conferences (CCEE), also expressed his condolences for the death of Pope Shenouda
III.
In a telegram of sympathy, addressed to the leaders of the Coptic
Orthodox Churches, the archbishop of Budapest said: “We are shaken by the sad
news of the death of His Holiness Pope Shenouda III. In his person the
Christian world loses one of its excellent and exemplary leaders.”
The head of the European bishops shared “the grief of his faithful
and of all people of good will” of the North African country.
Cardinal Erdo then recalled the “fraternal and ecumenical
relations” that blossomed between the Hungarian Catholic Church and the
Coptic-Orthodox Church, thanks to the contribution of Patriarch Shenouda.
“Remaining faithful to his spiritual legacy, we intend to maintain
this precious and friendly relationship of Christian brotherhood and solidarity,”
he concluded.
“We lose a friend with whom we were united for long years,”
commented Gregory III, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and
of Jerusalem, in a statement issued on Monday.
Gregory III went to Cairo to attend Shenouda III’s funeral on
Monday. “Shenouda III was the patriarch of the largest Orthodox Church of the
Middle East, embodying in his person the whole history of his Church,” said
Gregory III.
Patriarch Gregory III evoked the celebrations of the Lord’s
Nativity in Cairo according to the Coptic tradition, which the Melkite
patriarch has attended since his election to the See of Antioch of the
Greek-Melkites in 2011, and which enabled him to be beside Shenouda III, before
joining his “prayer to that of the whole Coptic Orthodox Church for the repose
of the soul of its mourned pastor and for the Holy Spirit to illumine hearts so
that the designated successor will enable the Coptic Church to continue its
altogether particular mission.”
Following the funeral in Cario, Pope Shenouda’s body was taken
northwest of Cairo and buried in a remote desert monastery.