Antonios Naguib

Antonios I Naguib (in Arabic أنطونيوس الأول نجيب) (born 7 March 1935 in Minya, Egypt) is the Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria since 30 March 2006.

From 1953 to 1958, he studied at the interritual seminary of Maadi, Cairo and, later, at the Pontifical Urbaniana College, Rome. He then went back to Egypt and was ordained to the Coptic Catholic priesthood in 1960. After being pastor for a year at Fikryak, Minya, he returned to Rome and obtained a licentiate in Theology in 1962 and in Scripture in 1964. He was Professor of Sacred Scripture in the Maadi seminary from 1964. He worked with group of Protestant and Orthodox specialists preparing an Arabic translation of the Bible.

He became Bishop of Minya, Egypt in 1977, a post he held until he resigned in 2002. On 30 March 2006 he was elected Patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts, after Patriarch Stéphanos II Ghattas retired from the patriarchal office in March 2006, because of age. Patriarch Antonios Naguib received ecclesiastical communion from Pope Benedict XVI on 7 April 2006.

Pope Benedict named him Relator General (recording secretary) of the October 2010 special assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, held at the Vatican.

Naguib was made a cardinal-bishop at the consistory of 20 November 2010, when he became the only Eastern Catholic Patriarch eligible to vote in a papal conclave.

On 13 October 2011, after attacks the previous Sunday by the military against peaceful protesters in Cairo and reported denials of Christian building permits, Cardinal Naguib urged fraternity among Egyptians of different faiths and expressed his confidence in the country's transitional government.^[1]

Cardinal Naguib's health has started to improve slowly after suffering a stroke on New Year's Eve. He is still suffering from partial paralysis and has difficulty in pronunciation but is improving slowly with the help of physiotherapy. The cardinal also underwent brain surgery.

See also

List of Coptic Catholic Patriarchs of Alexandria

References

External links

• Giga Catholic info

This article about a Catholic bishop or archbishop is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This Egyptian biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e