Egypt's Coptic Pope Shenuda III dies

CAIRO - Head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church Pope Shenuda III died on Saturday at the age of 89, state TV reported.

The Coptic Patriarch died after fighting liver and lung problems for several years, official MENA news agency reported.

Church sources said the health condition of the pope deteriorated Saturday morning after suffering a severe heart attack. The pope's medical team tried to recover him but did not succeed.

Egypt's Coptic Pope Shenouda III attends an Easter service in the main cathedral in Cairo in this April 23, 2011 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

The Coptic Orthodox Church announced a state of mourning over the pope's death. It said the funeral prayer would be held on Tuesday at the papal headquarters in the Abbassiya district in Cairo.

Mounir Thabet, a 41-year-old physician, left his clinic when he heard the news, picked up his families and headed to the church to see the pope's body. Cars could barely move on the road to Abbassiya, which was jammed as thousands of people flooded to the church, some of them walking to avoid the traffic in order to reach the church as soon as possible.

"The pope has suffered a lot, cancer ate his lungs. God bless him in the heaven with the saints," he told Xinhua.

"Though we were prepared for the announcement of his death many times before, but the news was a shock for all Copts who had been praying for a medical miracle for their religious guide," Thabet said, crying.

"We lost a great teacher and may God grant us a good successor, " he added.

A statement published on the armed forces website said "Egypt and the whole world, Muslims and Christians, lost a unique person who spared no efforts to deepen the tolerant Christian values".

Egyptian Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri mourned the death of Shenuda III, describing the pope as a "national figure and a symbol of the Egyptian nationalism, who has earned great respect from the Egyptian people," MENA reported.

Parliament Speaker Mohamed Saad al-Katatni of the Muslim Brotherhood, presidential potentials Amr Moussa, Ahmed Shafiq and Egypt's Mufti Ali Gomaa also mourned the pope's death.

Muslim Brotherhood's leader Mohamed Badei offered condolence over the death of Pope Shenuda III. "We offer sincere condolence to our Coptic brothers over the death of Pope Shenuda III," said Badei.

Moussa said Pope Shenuda III was a great man and a religious leader for Egypt's Copts.

The pope was born in 1923. He was enthroned as Pope Shenuda III, the pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the St. Mark in 1971. Coptic Christians account for about 10 percent of Egypt's population of 80 million.