"If you don't believe in the Virgin Mary or in her divine intercession, you won't be able to see her," said Coptic Pope Shenouda III, commenting on recent alleged sightings of the virgin in several areas throughout Cairo. In his first weekly sermon after returning from the US where he underwent a routine medical check-up, Shenouda spoke at length about the host of recent apparitions. "The Virgin Mary loves Egypt, where she stayed for three and a half years when Jesus was a child," he said, stressing that such miracles were possible. "That's why she misses Egypt, and--from time to time--chooses to bless it with her appearance." "There is another world, called the world of heaven or of light, because everything in that world is of light," he said. "God is light, Jesus is light emanating from that light, and the Virgin Mary is the mother of light." Shenouda went on to say that many Muslims, as well as Coptic Christians, believed the visions were authentic. "Muslims believe in the holiness of the Virgin Mary. In fact, they appreciate her more than some Protestant Christians," he said, noting, however, that the pastor of a Protestant Church in Cairo's Kasr el-Dobara district had confirmed the virgin's appearance. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
