Questions & Answers

Pope

Faith Q&A › Metropolitan Youssef › The Church › Pope

The question

What is the difference between Pope and Patriarch? Why does our Church have a pope and other churches (especially Orthodox Churches) only have Patriarchs?

The answer

Pope and Patriarch are linguistically synonyms because both terms refer to the same person at the top of the hierarchy of the Church. The Church of Alexandria uses both terms. His Holiness Pope Tawadros II is the 118th Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark. He is the archbishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

Answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab)

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Questions answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab) of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Question 2314 on the Diocese’s Q&A site. Questions and answers © Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. All rights reserved.