Jumbled reactions

Pope Shenouda's endorsement of President Mubarak in the forthcoming elections has angered many, reports Gihan Shahine

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Pope Shenouda

Bekheit, a carpenter, would not think twice before voting for President Hosni Mubarak in the upcoming multi-candidate presidential elections. "President Mubarak has done many good things for the Copts," he says. Not only that but "Pope Shenouda has also pledged his support to Mubarak and he absolutely knows what is best for his sons."

Bekheit is unlikely to be alone in adopting such a view now that Pope Shenouda III has repeated an earlier endorsement of President Mubarak. The pope first declared the Coptic Church's support for the current regime before President Mubarak had even announced his candidacy, and reportedly after receiving a visit from presidential adviser Zakariya Azmi.

Not that the church's official line is without its opponents. Flubatir Jamil, parish priest at Giza's Virgin Mary Church, was suspended last Thursday after breaking ranks and declaring his support for Ayman Nour, the leader of the Ghad Party. Jamil, who has made frequent appearances alongside Nour, is the author of several articles on the alleged forced conversion of female Copts to Islam that appeared in Al-Katiba Al-Tibeya, a church newspaper . His suspension came hot on the heels of Pope Shenouda's repudiation of Coptic Kifaya leader George Ishaq, whom he described as "no son of the Coptic church".

The repudiation has angered many copts. According to political analyst Gamal Asaad, "it contradicts all Christian ethics, as well as the rights of citizenship, which the Pope himself refers to whenever defending Coptic rights."

Neither is this Asaad's only objection to the Pope's intervention in the political sphere. Pope Shenouda had said that in a predominantly Muslim country, it is only natural that the president of the republic should be a Muslim. "Who is he to say who should run for the presidency? The Pope has no constitutional right to interfere should a copt wish to nominate himself," Asaad says angrily.

As for Jamil and Ishaq, they both remain undaunted in the face of Shenouda's hardline pro-regime policy. Ishaq says he will still "perform his prayers as a faithful Copt without any hindrance" while Jamil insists "there is no church law that forbids priests from joining a political party."

"The pope is the religious leader of all Orthodox Egyptians, regardless of their political affiliations," Ishaq told Al-Ahram Weekly. "Religious leaders would be well- advised to stay away from politics."

Whereas Pope Shenouda's position may be accepted without question by many of the church's rank and file, it has ruffled rather more feathers among the Coptic elite. By speaking in the name of all Copts, it is argued, he has infringed on their political rights, undermining their citizenship by reducing them to little more than a religious sect.

"The pope's attitude has provoked much unhappiness on the Coptic street," Ishaq said. "He is a religious leader, and has no guardianship whatsoever over people's political rights."

"Why did the pope allow himself to speak for all Copts in Egypt?" asks Assad. "Do all Copts support Mubarak? How can Copts be politically pigeon-holed so neatly?"

Sameh Fawzi, managing editor of the weekly Watani newspaper, argues that while "the pope has the right to support whoever he wants, people are not obliged to obey."

There is a near consensus among analysts that Pope Shenouda's intervention was ill- advised, and that the church should restrict itself to its spiritual role.

"The church should stand above politics rather than getting bogged down in controversial issues," says Fawzi.

Copts, argues Assad, should exercise their political and constitutional rights without the interference of sectarian considerations. By endorsing President Mubarak, "the pope has undermined that democratic experience."

While Raphael Sami, the priest of Mar Girgis Church in Fayoum, believes that "the pope has a better and wiser perspective than we do and we all support him in his views because we never saw better days, or more security and economic stability than under the rule of President Mubarak", others disagree.

Fadel Tawfiq, an engineer, points out that the "pope's endorsement was not obligatory" and "each Copt still has the liberty to choose for himself."

"The pope only expressed his wish that President Mubarak might win. He did not issue a statement asking all Copts to vote for him," says Tawfiq.

Fawzi, though not a proponent of the current regime, concedes that "Copts are faring better now than under the rule of late President Anwar El-Sadat."

It is easier now than in the past to obtain permission to build churches, Coptic Christmas has become a national holiday and Copts hold a number of cabinet-level portfolios. Yet such improvements, says Fawzi, are "piecemeal solutions intended to soak up anger" while Coptic grievances continue to be dealt with "as a security, rather than a political, question".

That anger was clearly displayed during the recent demonstrations that took place following reports that Wafaa Costantine, a priest's wife, had converted to Islam.

"The church then mobilised Copts in mass protests, twisting the arm of the state and forcing the illegal submission of Costantine [who was subsequently removed to Wadi Al-Natroun Monastery] in violation of the law and the freedom of creed," says Assad. Tensions were heightened when senior clerics accused the police of discriminating against Christians and claimed that leading members of the ruling National Democratic Party in Assiut had forced several female Copts to convert. At the time many observers suspected the church was escalating problems in an attempt to pressure the government.