A Coptic bishop has traveled to Jerusalem, despite the Coptic Pope's ban on visits to the holy city in Israel, al- Shorouq daily reported on Thursday. Theodosius, the bishop of Giza, had announced he was leaving Egypt to accompany an elderly Coptic priest to Germany for medical treatment.
He did not mention when he left Wednesday that he would visit Jerusalem first, the newspaper said.
Coptic Pope Shenouda III first issued a decree in 1974 banning Copts from traveling to Jerusalem until the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians was resolved. Those who defied the ban would be denied Holy Communion, he said.
He has often reiterated his stark position against pilgrimages to Jerusalem.
A number of Egyptian Copts have quietly traveled to Jerusalem against the Pope's orders, but the trip by Theodosius is the first involving a high-ranking member of the clergy.
The Coptic Church has not yet issued an official comment about the incident.
Prior to the ban, Coptics had regularly traveled to Jerusalem to visit Christian holy sites.
Egypt and Israel signed a peace agreement in 1979, the first between an Arab country and the Jewish state.
However, the peace is often described as 'cold' and at times relations are tense.
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