Coptic Church denies Shenouda’s retreat in US

By Essam Fadl /Special to Daily News Egypt
7/6/2011

CAIRO: Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church denied media reports about Pope Shenouda’s alleged retreat to the US being a form of protests against what was called “hardships faced by Copts in Egypt post January 25 Revolution.”

Bishop Morkos, head of the media committee in the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church, told Daily News Egypt that the Pope’s stay in the US is not in protest of events in Egypt.
“The Pope’s residence in the US is due to incomplete medical examinations, which is determined by doctors,” he said.

Pope Shenouda left Cairo on May 22 for a medical examination in Ohio’s Cleveland Hospital that was expected to take 10 days but has been extended, as the Papal source said, to complete all necessary check ups.

“Rumors circulating in newspapers and websites about a retreat for the Pope in the US are completely not true,” said Deputy General of the Orthodox Patriarchy Bishop Sirgious Sirgious in a comment published by the official Facebook page of the Pope’s Secretary Bishop Armia.
“The Pope’s health is fine and he is continuing with his medical checks in Cleveland Hospital in Ohio. [He] follows up daily with what happens in Egypt and the church and will come back soon.”
Sirious urged media to stop spreading rumors, especially during this critical stage in Egypt’s history.

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