Coptic Pope to Visit Tomorrow

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, will lecture on "The Contributions of the Coptic Orthodox Church to Christian Theology" tomorrow at 3 p.m. in the Sperry Room at Andover Hall, the Divinity School.

Pope Shenouda, visiting from Cairo, heads a branch of Christian faith dating back to the first century A.D. and the Apostle Mark. The Coptic Church has 7 million members worldwide, including 200,000 in North America.

Pope Shenouda has been active in guiding the Coptic Church toward a closer relationship with Roman Catholicism and in speaking on behalf of reconciliation with Muslims. He was removed from his post in 1981 by the late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and exiled to a desert monastery. Amnesty International and the Vatican protested his detention, and he was released in 1985.

Following the speech, a reception will be held in the Pope's honor at the Mather House reception room at 5 p.m. The Pope's visit is sponsored by the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations. Both events are free and open to the public.