PAPAL LEADERSHIP
Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of Saint Mark
His Holiness Pope Tawadros II was enthroned as the 118th Pope of Alexandria and Pope of the See of Saint Mark on November 18, 2012, at the Cathedral of Saint Reweis in Abbassiya, Cairo.
Born Wagih Sobhy Baky Soliman on November 4, 1952 in Mansoura, Egypt, His Holiness received his bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Alexandria University in 1975. He earned a fellowship from the World Health Organization at the British International Health Institute in England in 1985, and graduated from the Coptic Seminary in 1983.
His Holiness entered the Monastery of Saint Pishoy in Wadi El-Natroun on August 20, 1986. He was ordained a monk on July 31, 1988, and a priest on December 23, 1989. He began serving with Metropolitan Pakhomious of Beheira on February 15, 1990, and was ordained a bishop on June 15, 1997 by Pope Shenouda III. His Holiness has a special focus on children’s ministry and has authored twelve books.
“Your people shall be willing in the day of your power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: you have the dew of your youth. The LORD has sworn, and will not relent, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” — Psalm 110:3