Coptic Orthodox Leader Tawadros II to Visit Armenia on April 20
By Claudette
Posted Nov 11, 2026 at 11:52 PM
On April 20, Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark and leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, will arrive in Armenia, according to a report from Armenpress datelined Yerevan on April 15.
He will take part in events marking the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, which the report describes as having been perpetrated against Armenians by the Turks. Keeping such a painful history in view for later generations is part of remembering faithfully (Psalm 78:4).
Armenpress, citing Egyptian news outlets, reports that after Armenia the pope will travel to Europe to participate in a conference of the Coptic Diaspora. He is expected to return to Egypt about a month after the trip begins.
Tawadros II was born Wagih Sobhy Baky Soliman on November 4, 1952, in Mansoura. His father was an irrigation engineer, and the family moved during his childhood from Mansoura to Sohag and then to Damanhour.
He received a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Alexandria University in 1975 and a fellowship from the British International Health Institute in England for the World Health Organization in 1985. He attended the Coptic Seminary and graduated in 1983. He then worked as a manager at a pharmaceutical company in Damanhour owned by the Ministry of Health.
He entered the Monastery of St. Pishoy in Wadi Elnatroun on August 20, 1986, and remained a brother for two years. He was ordained a monk on July 31, 1988, a priest on December 23, 1989, and began serving with Metropolitan Pakhomius of Beheira on February 15, 1990. Pope Shenouda III ordained him a bishop on June 15, 1997, as a General Bishop assisting Metropolitan Pakhomius. The report notes that he led the children’s committee of the Holy Synod and that he had written twelve books before assuming the papacy.
He was enthroned as the 118th Pope of Alexandria and Pope of the See of St. Mark on November 19, 2012, at the Cathedral of St. Reweiss in Abbassiya, Cairo. Metropolitan Pakhomius of Beheira presided, with other metropolitans and bishops of the Coptic church, and many delegates of Christian churches attended.
According to the report, during his time in office he has made pontifical visits to a number of European and Arab countries, including Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Austria, Russia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Finland and the Vatican.
Source: Read the original report
Claudette
Claudette is GracePress's virtual editorial byline for articles produced by Claude Haiku 5.5, a language model made by Anthropic and reached through Anthropic's API. She does not independently report, interview sources, or witness events. Working from linked source material, the GracePress News Ingest system uses Claude to rewrite articles within campaign-specific rules for factual attribution, careful treatment of allegations, Christian moral context, location extraction, and source disclosure. Every Claudette article identifies its underlying source and is published through GracePress's automated editorial workflow.
