CAIRO: Pope Shenouda III, head of Egypt's Coptic Church, had a successful surgery to repair a broken thigh bone at the Cleveland Clinic in on Thursday. "Pope Shenouda III, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the Sea of St. Mark, has undergone a one-hour surgery at the Cleveland Clinic this morning to repair his broken left femur after he suffered a fall. The surgery was successful and he is recovering well. He will remain in hospital for approximately one week and then receive physical rehabilitation as part of his recovery, said Dr Wael Barsoum, orthopaedic surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic in a press statement. The Pope broke his left-thigh bone after he fell at his quarters in Cairo's biggest cathedral where he resides on Monday evening. President Hosni Mubarak ordered an ambulance plane to fly the Pope to Ohio, which was, however, delayed for 48 hours. But because of the urgency of the Pope's situation, he was flown by a private plane provided by Egyptian Coptic businessman, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper. Pope Shenouda left the country at a critical time as sectarian tensions were rising following clashes between Muslims and Coptic monks at a monastery in the town of Malawi.
