>On Monday, Egypt's President El-Sisi appointed the Syrian-born Youssef Absi as the Patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church of Alexandria and subsequently the official representative of the Roman Catholic Church, English Ahram reports.
>The presidential decree, which was put into action after getting published in the official Egyptian gazette yesterday, effectively ends the 5-year papalship of Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak, who was elected to the position in 2013 by the synod of the Coptic Catholic Church.
>President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi appointed Youssef Absi as the Patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church in the country and the legal representative of the Catholic community, the state-run Egyptian Gazette published in January 2018.
>Sisi also approved granting Egyptian nationality to the patriarch, who was born in Damascus, Syria in 1946.
>Roman Catholic Pope Francis sent a letter to the patriarch congratulating him. In it he said, “I am pleased to congratulate you and assure you from now on of my prayer that Christ, the Good Shepherd, may support you in the fulfillment of the mission that has been entrusted to you and for the service required of you,” and he granted Absi the ecclesiastical communion, according to the Vatican Publishing Library.
http://cairoscene.com/Buzz/El-Sisi-Appoints-Syrian-Patriarch-Youssef-Absi-As-Head-of-Egypt-s-Coptic-Catholic-Churc
https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/49313/Melkite-Greek-Catholic-Church-Patriarch-to-visit-Egypt