Curiosity abounds as Delvin awaits papal visit with a difference
The Pope is coming to Delvin on Friday – but not the Pope you're likely thinking of.
In one of the most unusual visits to Westmeath in recent times, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Pope Tawadros II, is to consecrate a new church at Billistown, outside Delvin, on Friday morning.
Details about the prelate’s visit are sketchy owing to intense security arrangements surrounding his visit to Ireland.
Last month, the Egyptian holy man was the target of an assassination attempt by Islamic State in the city of Alexandria, where Tawadros was enthroned as patriarch in 2012. Thirteen people were killed when ISIS bombed the Cathedral of St Mark, where Tawadros was celebrating Palm Sunday mass.
As a result of recent incidents in London and the arrest of ISIS fundraisers here in Ireland over the past few weeks, the gardaí are set to surround the Pope with layers of security during his Irish visit, closing off roads in the Billistown area on Friday morning and afternoon.
Tawadros will be in Delvin to consecrate the St George Abbey, a Coptic Orthodox community established on the Mullingar side of Delvin a couple of years ago.
He is expected to attend at least two engagements in Ireland, including a visit to a Coptic cultural centre in Cahir, County Tipperary.
Over the last week, Pope Tawadros made an historic visit to the United Kingdom, where he met Queen Elizabeth II. He has also met with Pope Francis in recent months.
Having originally worked in the pharmaceutical industry, Tawadros – born Waghi Subhi Baqi Sulayman in 1952 – became a Coptic Orthodox priest in 1989 after studying theology.
The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria was founded by St Mark the Apostle and is most likely the oldest Christian church in the world, now claiming the adherence of 22 million worldwide – most of them in Egypt and elsewhere in north Africa, with a diaspora of two million.
It is claimed that seven Coptic monks landed and preached in Ireland in the early Middle Ages, with some claiming that their arrival could even have predated St Patrick.