Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria. Sheik Zein-el-Dine born Stéphanos II Andraos Ghattas CM., entered the Minor Seminary of Cairo in August 1929 and took classic studies at the College of the Holy Family run by the Jesuits. In September 1938, he was sent to further his studies at the Pontifical Academy of Propaganda Fide in Rome, where he was ordained priest on March 25, 1944. Professor of dogmatic theology and philosophy in the Major Seminary of Tantah, on October 2, 1952, he entered the Congregation of the Mission of St. Vincent de Paul in Paris, where he completed the internal seminary. After holding various ministries in Lebanon for six years, he was appointed treasurer and then superior of his Congregation for the community of Alexandria. The Synod of the Coptic Catholic Church elected him bishop of Luxor, Thebes of the Copts, Egypt, on May 8, 1967, with Ghattas receiving his episcopal consecration on June 9, 1967 from Cardinal Stéphanos I Sidarouss CM. On February 24, 1984, he was appointed apostolic administrator of the Patriarchate of Alexandria of the Copts, replacing, because of weak health, the named Cardinal Sidarouss. When the latter submitted his resignation, the Synod of the Coptic Church unanimously elected Ghattas his successor as patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts on June 9, 1986. Pope John Paul II awarded him the "Ecclesiastica Communio" on the 23rd of the same month. The newly elected patriarch changed his name of Andraos to Stéphanos II as a gesture of affection to his predecessor. President of the Synod of the Coptic Catholic Church and the Assembly of the Catholic Hierarchy of Egypt, in February 2000 he welcomed Pope John Paul II during his Jubilee pilgrimage to Mount Sinai. Shortly afterward, the named Pontiff created him cardinal patriarch in the consistory of February 21, 2001. Resigning from office due to age and health reasons on March 30, 2006, since then the Cardinal lived at the Saint Stephen residence for priests in Cairo. Passing away at the Italian hospital of Cairo on Tuesday, January 20, 2009, Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir, Patriarch of the Antioches of the Maronites attended his exequies as a representative of Pope Benedict XVI. He is currently being considered as a candidate for beatification.