Tens of thousands of grieving Coptic Christians packed St Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo to bid farewell to Pope Shenuda III yesterday, as the church considers a new head for the anxious community.

Nationwide millions are mourning Pope Shenuda, whose body was placed on a wooden throne. He died on Saturday aged 88 after a long illness, setting in motion the process to elect a new patriarch for the Middle East’s largest Christian community.

He led the Copts, estimated at 10 per cent of Egypt’s population of more than 80 million, for a whole generation, during which the country was hit by a wave of Islamist militancy from which he sought to protect his flock.

Mourners converged on the cathedral in a queue that stretched for more than a kilometre, as military vehicles lined the road outside.

Three people were crushed to death as crowds pressed to see the body of the late religious leader, but no further information was available. State television urged mourners to avoid crowding, saying they had until today to pay their respects.

Pope Shenuda’s body, dressed in formal robes with a golden crown on his head and a gold-knobbed staff cradled on his shoulder, was placed upright on the tall ornate papal throne where it will remain sitting in state until the funeral today.

Thousands of worshippers in black hoping for a final blessing from their spiritual leader took pictures of Pope Shenuda on their phones, amid tears and wailing.

“It’s a great loss for Egypt,” said Tourism Minister Munir Fakhry Abdelnur, a Copt and a close friend of Pope Shenuda.

“He was wise and was widely listened to. He will be missed at a time when we need wisdom and a patriotic spirit.”

Copts nationwide mourned Pope Shenuda, and one distraught woman in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia was critical in hospital after trying to commit suicide, the official MENA news agency reported.

It also said the head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, visited the cathedral to pay his last respects.

Based on wishes stated in his will, Pope Shenuda will be buried at St Bishoy monastery of Wadi Natrun in the Nile Delta, where he spent time in exile after a dispute with the late President Anwar Sadat, state media reported. Bishop Pachomious of the Nile Delta province of Beheira has assumed papal duties for two months until a council of senior clergy meets to choose a new pope, state television said.

The successor would be chosen according to procedures laid out in 1957 church bylaws.

“Egypt Weeps”, read the headline of the state-owned daily Al-Akhbar as others bade Farewell, Pope Shenuda. “Egypt has lost one of its greatest men,” said the Al-Azhar institution in Cairo, Sunni Islam’s most prestigious, in a statement. “He is a great loss, a dear friend.”

Pope Benedict XVI shares the pain of the Copts over Pope Shenouda III’s death

Cairo-based Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi described Pope Shenuda in a statement as “an Egyptian and national personage who took upon himself responsibilities for Egyptians and all Arabs”.

Pope Shenuda had suffered health problems for years, frequently travelling to the United States for medical care.

Condolences flooded in from around the world, with US President Barack Obama hailing Pope Shenuda as an advocate for tolerance and religious dialogue.

Pope Benedict XVI had offered prayers for Pope Shenuda, the Vatican said. “I can say how much the entire Catholic Church shares the suffering of the Orthodox Copts,” Pope Benedict said in a statement released by the Vatican.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe also offered his condolences, adding that Pope Shenuda “had developed a dialogue with other Christan churches and with Islam in a spirit of tolerance, making a profound mark on the history of his country, Egypt”.

Pope Shenuda leaves behind a nervous community, a target of frequent sectarian attacks in recent years, with complaints of routine harassment and systematic discrimination and marginalisation.

Egypt’s Christians are particularly concerned over the rise and increased assertiveness of Islamists, following the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.