Copts confirm final three candidates for next pope

The Coptic Orthodox Orthodox Church has announced the three remaining candidates in the process to elect a new pope.

Clergy are meeting this week in the Egyptian capital of Cairo to choose the Church's 118th pope.

A vote to whittle down the list of five candidates was held on Monday.

The final three candidates are Bishop Roufail, Bishop Tawadrous and Father Rafael Ava-Mina.

The next pope will be announced on 4 November.

Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom said, "As we near the end of this historic process, our own prayerful work and deliberation has now come to an end and the next stage requires prayer alone.

"Through these prayers and the altar ballot on 4 November, we place everything in the faithful hands of God, confident that he is the true shepherd of the Church, and that he will continue to faithfully guide his Church in Egypt as he has for over two thousand years."