Wauana wakigombea kuona maiti ya Papa Misri

Maiti ya Papa Shenouda

A memorial service for Egypt's late Pope Shenouda III plunged into chaos when mourners trying to catch a glimpse of his embalmed corpse were crushed to death.

Tens of thousands visited Cairo's main Abbasiya cathedral as the body of the 88-year-old leader of the nation's Orthodox Church sat on an ornate throne.

But the desire to see the spiritual leader of the Coptic Christians soon turned to tragedy - as three devotees suffocated to death and dozens were injured in the crowded church.

It came as soldiers and armoured tanks stood outside to deter possible attacks by militant Muslims.

The grief of the faithful filing past Pope Shenouda may also reflect the uncertainty felt by the country's Christian minority following the recent rise of Islamists to power.

Shenouda, who died on Saturday, often called for harmony and regularly met Muslim leaders to ease tensions.

In his death, Egypt's 10 million Christians have lost a seasoned protector at a bad time.

The crowds outside the cathedral in central Cairo carried crosses and portraits of Shenouda. 'Ya Allah!' or 'Oh God!', they chanted in unison.

Shenouda, seated on the throne of St. Mark, or Mar Morkos, was clad in the elaborate regalia he traditionally wore to oversee services. His head slightly tilting to the right and he held a scepter.

'Please, let me come a little bit closer,' one woman pleaded with a tearful voice to guards surrounding the body to keep the mourners away.

'I am so sad. It's a massive shock to all of us,' said Eileen Naguib, dressed in mourning black, as she wiped tears from her face outside the cathedral.

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who heads Egypt's ruling military council, visited the church with other generals and consoled Coptic leaders.

Shenouda's death could lead to a long power vacuum. It could take months before a successor is found, according to Fuad Girgis, a prominent Christian from the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and a member of the Church's local layman council, known as el-Maglis el-Melly.

'Pope Shenouda assumed the throne of St. Mark eight months after the death of his predecessor,' he noted. Shenouda will be buried tomorrow.

During his 40 years as patriarch, Shenouda strove to ensure his place among the main players in this mainly Muslim nation, pressing demands behind the scenes while keeping Christians' anger over violence and discrimination in check.

It was a delicate balancing act undertaken for years by a man who kept a relatively high media profile during most of the past four decades, giving interviews, speaking on key domestic and regional developments and never allowing himself to show anger at times of crisis.

Authorities deny discriminating against them, but the Christians say discrimination is practised in numerous and subtle ways.

Christians, for example, rarely assume leadership jobs on the police force, particularly the security agencies.

Shenouda supported President Hosni Mubarak during the 29 years ruled, until his ouster 13 months ago in a popular uprising. In return, Mubarak gave him and his church wide powers in the Christian community.

'Baba Shenouda', or Father Shenouda, as he was known, came to be viewed by many Copts as their guardian.

A charismatic leader, his sense of humour belied a deeply conservative doctrine that angered liberals within the church as well as young secular-minded Copts seeking a more assertive role and inclusive identity in society.

More recently, Christians' worries have deepened with the rise of Islamic movements to political power in parliamentary elections, a string of deadly attacks on their community and places of worship and heightened anti-Christian rhetoric by ultraconservative Muslims, or Salafis.

'The nation that does not protect its own sons strangles them,' Girgis Atef, a 26-year-old Christian activist, said of the perceived failure by authorities to protect Christians.

Atef, an insurance executive, participated in last year's uprising and then witnessed the death in October of at least 27 people, mostly Christians, when soldiers crushed a Christian protest.