Iman Chairman congratulates Bishop Tawadros on his selection as new Pope of Egypt's Copts

Bishop Tawadros has been chosen as the new pope of Egypt's Coptic Christians, becoming the leader of the largest Christian minority in the Middle East.

His name was selected from a bowl by a blindfolded boy at a ceremony in Cairo's St Mark's Cathedral. Three candidates had been shortlisted.

The 60-year-old succeeds Pope Shenouda III, who died in March aged 88.

BBC News

Commenting on the story, Ribal Al-Assad, Chairman of the Iman Foundation, said:

"I would like to congratulate Bishop Tawadros on his selection as the new Pope. I have no doubt that he will continue the excellent interfaith dialogue work of the late Pope Shenouda III, who I had the honour of meeting.

"It is vital that we work together to tackling extremism and sectarianism in Egypt, the Middle East and North Africa by challenging all those who use religion to incite hatred, conflict and violence.

"We look forward to working with Pope Tawadros and the Coptic Church to bring greater reconciliation, understanding and mutual acceptance between Muslims and Christians."