Pope Fined for Refusing to Recognize Divorce

No, NOT Papa Benedetto, but the other authentic Pope, Egyptian Coptic Pope Shenouda III. Yes, there is another authentic Pope, but he is not a competitor for Papa Benedetto as head of the Catholic Church. rather Pope Shenouda III is head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. He is considered to be is the 117th Pope of Alexandria and the Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy Apostolic See of Saint Mark the Evangelist. As you can tell from the title, Alexandria's roots go all the way back to aposotolic times. & just like Papa Benedetto is considered successor of St. Peter, Pope Shenouda is considered the successor of St. Mark the Evangelist. The title of Pope has been attributed to the Bishop of Alexandria since the Episcopate of Heraclas, the 13th Bishop of Alexandria. All the clergy of Alexandria and Lower Egypt honored him with the appellation Papas, which means Our Father, as the Senior & Elder Bishop among all bishops, within the Egyptian Province. The Coptic Orthodox Church split from the rest of Christianity in 451 AD after the Council of Chalcedon. In 1973 he became the 1st Coptic Pope to meet with the Roman Pope in over 1500 yrs when he met Pope Paul VI.

Pope Shenouda is no stranger to persecution by the Egyptian government. But I bring him up more as a reminder of what we may be facing as many governments become totalitarian & exclude Christians from the public square as well as what we can expect in those countries that refuse to stand up to Muslim extremists.

Egyptian Coptic Pope Shenouda III Fined For Stand Against Divorce

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
CAIRO, September 27, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Egyptian Supreme Administrative Court has issued a decision requiring Orthodox Coptic Pope Shenouda III to pay damages of approximately 19,500 Egyptian pounds to church member Magdi William who sued the Coptic Church over its refusal to issue a certificate to re-marry after he divorced his wife.
In May, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled in favor of another litigant seeking re-marriage, Hani Wasfi Naguib, stating that under Egyptian law the Coptic Orthodox Church must allow its members to divorce and remarry.
However, after an appeal of that decision by the Coptic Church, the Supreme Constitutional Court overturned the ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court, stating that marital matters are under the sole jurisdiction of the church because civil marriage without a religious ceremony is not recognized in Egypt.
The Orthodox Coptic Church forbids divorce and re-marriage except in cases of proven adultery or religious conversion of a spouse.
In the current case, Pope Shenouda lost an appeal to overturn the court verdict in favor of William, despite the Constitutional Court ruling.
According to Al-Masry Al-Youm news service, the Coptic pope has refused to pay the fine, and instead said he would defrock any priest who allows a divorced Christian to remarry, except under the allowed conditions.
See previous LSN coverage:
Egyptian Court Orders Coptic Orthodox Church To Allow Divorce and Remarriage

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jun/10060102.html