Pope Shenouda III, head of Egypt's Coptic Christian Church, will travel to the United States next month to receive medical treatment. Pope Shenouda will also attend the annual seminar of American priests, which includes two Coptic churches in the capital, and will officially open the new papal diplomatic mission to the United States. The trip is expected to last three weeks. A source inside the mission said the pope will first travel to Hungary to open the first Coptic church there, the Church of the Virgin Mary and Archangel Michael. He will then travel to the U.S. The source said the pope will have some regular medical tests done at Cleveland Hospital in Ohio. The source denied that the pope has any intentions to meet with Morris Sadik. Sadik has been stripped of his Egyptian nationality after calling for international protection of Copts in Egypt. The pope also denounced Sadik's call. Sadik also filed a lawsuit to strip both prominent opposition figure Mohamed el-Baradei and Gamal Mubarak, son of Egypt's former president, of their citizenship.
