New pope to be elected December 2

Wednesday 12-09-2012 08:55 PM
New pope to be elected December 2

Pope Shenouda III - photo from Reuters

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Elections to choose a new pope for the Orthodox Church will be held on November 24 while a draw will take place on December 2 to choose the pope from amongst the three who get the highest votes in the election, Bishop Pola, spokesman of the committee tasked with electing the new pope, said on Wednesday.

According to the Middle East News Agency (MENA), the nomination committee will announce next Friday in the newspapers the names of those who have the right to elect a new pope, the bishop said at a press conference held today.

The committee will receive appeals on this list starting September 15 until September 30.

The final number of those eligible to vote is 2405 voters in addition to five representatives of the Ethiopian church, Bishop Pola stated, adding that 216 names were removed because they did not fulfill the requirements while 27 others were added to the list.

Pope Shenouda died last March at the age of 88 after he was elected in 1971 to head the biggest church in the Middle East.

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