Pope Tawadros II left Cairo this morning on a pastoral trip to Europe. He will be visiting Austria which is the papal seat of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Europe, as well as Zurich, and Germany.
In Vienna, the Pope will be lecturing at the Coptic seminary there, over the span of a week. He will then head to Zurich and to Geneve to meet the newly-seated bishop Anba Luqa.
Finally, the Pope will go to Germany to visit Frankfurt and consecrate the Coptic Orthodox monastery of St Anthony there. The Bishop of Germany Anba Demian had purchased the place 20 years ago with the intention of turning it a monastery. The Pope will spend a day visiting the congregation in Berlin.
This is the third visit by Pope Tawadros to Europe since he was enthroned in November 2013. The first was last May when he visited Pope Francis in Rome, and the second later to Vienna.
Watani International
6 December 2013