ALEXANDRIA -- Leader of Egypt's Coptic Church Pope Shenouda III said the church "still had problems" with the governors of certain provinces. "It depends on the character of the governor and his willingness to solve problems outside of a bureaucratic context," Shenouda said, calling for more cooperation between state officials and the church. The Pope also announced he would vote for Gamal Mubarak, head of the ruling party's powerful Policies Committee and son of President Hosni Mubarak, in the event that Gamal made a bid for the presidency. "There's no candidate better than him," Shenouda declared in an interview on satellite channel ONTV on Sunday. "Democracy allows Copts to run for the presidency," Shenouda added. "But since Egypt is a Muslim majority country, this cannot happen." When asked if Confessional Council Undersecretary Tharwat Bassili had resigned his position, the pope declined to answer. "Ask him," he said. "I say the council is fine." Shenouda also pointed to his solid relationship with Mohamed Tantawi, grand sheikh of Al-Azhar, the oldest and most prestigious institute of Islamic learning in the Sunni-Arab world. "The grand sheikh congratulated me on my safe return from my recent medical visit to the US," he said. "We only halted our customary joint banquets so as to avoid crowding in light of all the viruses we're hearing about." Shenouda went on to deny that he had transferred Bishop Armia, one of his personal secretaries, to a church overseas due to financial improprieties. "He's a good man and we need his services here," he said. The pope also called on church officials not to make their personal differences the source of media speculation. "This only serves to tarnish the reputation of the church," he said. Finally, Shenouda rejected the marriage of a 17-year-old Orthodox girl to a Protestant man. "First, you're too young for marriage," he told her. "Secondly, what faith would your children adhere to? Orthodoxy or Protestantism?" Translated from the Arabic Edition.
