Coptic Pope Tawadros II arrives in Hungary

The leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church was greeted by Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen at Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc Airport. Archbishop of Veszprem Gyorgy Udvardy, Coptic Orthodox Bishop of Austria Anba Gabriel, Coptic Orthodox Bishop of Central Europe Ava Giovanni and Mohamed Ibrahim Abdelkhalek Elshinawy, Egyptian ambassador to Hungary, were also present to welcome Pope Tawadros II.

Tawadros II will attend the celebratory mass on Sunday in the square in front of St. Stephen’s Basilica at the invitation of Cardinal Peter Erdo.

Tawadros II has been at the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church since 2012, as its 118th leader.

The Coptic Orthodox Church is Egypt’s biggest Christian church, the oldest organisation of Christianity. According to tradition, it was founded by St. Mark the Evangelist in Alexandria at the beginning of the 1st century; he was the first bishop of the city.

Copts are estimated to make up about 10 percent of the 93 million, mostly Muslim, population of Egypt.