Beginnings Since the
Council of Chalcedon in the 5th century and the official separation of the
Coptic Church from the
Western Christian and
Eastern Orthodox churches, the
Catholic Church has attempted to achieve reunion with the Copts in Egypt many times. During the
Council of Florence in 1442, the Coptic delegates present agreed to a reunion with the papacy in Rome, but the Coptic populace was opposed to the idea, and the union did not take effect. Further failed attempts at reunion were undertaken by Coptic delegates in 1560 and 1582. In the 17th century, at the behest of
Pope Urban VIII, Catholic missionaries (primarily
Franciscans) started to come to Egypt. In 1630, a number of missions of the
Capuchin Order were founded in the Levant by Joseph of Paris, including in Cairo. Attempts to excommunicate Catholic offenders in the city were seemingly fruitless. In 1741, the Coptic bishop, Anba Athanasius of
Jerusalem, became a Catholic. In 1781, he was appointed by
Pope Benedict XIV as
vicar apostolic of the fewer than 2,000 Egyptian Coptic Catholics. but it was basically
titular. The number of Catholics of this rite increased to the point that
Pope Leo XIII in 1895 restored the Catholic patriarchate. He initially named Bishop
Cyril Makarios as patriarchal vicar. Makarios then presided over a synod, which led to the introduction of some Latin practices. In 1899, Leo appointed Makarios as patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts, taking the name Cyril II. He resigned in 1908 at the request of the Roman pope over a controversy. The patriarchate seat remained vacant until an election in 1947 and was administered by an apostolic administrator. == Hierarchy ==