Nicosia, Dec 2, 2021: Pope Francis on December 2 began his apostolic journey to the eastern Mediterranean region, flying first to Cyprus.

Pope Francis landed in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, on his 35th apostolic journey abroad since becoming the Pope. After 2 days in Cyprus, he will proceed to Greece before flying back to Rome on December 6.

Pope Francis praised Cyprus, an island nation, as “a crossroads of civilizations” while meeting President Nikos Anastasiades, local Authorities, civil society, and the diplomatic corps.

Accompanying the Pope on the 3-hour flight from Rome on an A320 plane of Italy’s new state-owned flag carrier ITA Airways, were 77 journalists, 7 of them from Cyprus and Greece. Pope Francis greeted and thanked them for their company. “It is a beautiful journey, and we will also touch some wounds,” he told them. “I hope we can all welcome all the messages we will find,” he added.

After the papal plane touched down Larnaca Airport of Cyprus at 3 pm, Apostolic Nuncio to Cyprus Archbishop Tito Yllana went up the steps to greet the Pontiff inside the aircraft.

Awaiting him on the red carpet on the tarmac at the foot of the steps was the Speaker of the House of Parliament, Annita Demetriou, accompanied by 3 children in traditional dresses, who offered him bouquets of flower in welcome. Present also were also several Church dignitaries. After the guard of honor to the playing of band music, the Pontiff and the President of the Parliament introduced members of their respective delegations

Present on the tarmac were also many children holding the Vatican and Cypriot flags, whom the Pope greeted as they cheered: “We love you.” One of them held a banner with the words, “Pope Francis, symbol of peace.”

There were no speeches at the airport but the Pope and Demetriou talked for a while inside the terminal. The Pope was then driven some 50 km in a Fiat 500 car to Our Lady of Graces Cathedral in the capital Nicosia, the see of the Maronite Catholic Archdiocese of Cyprus, where he was to address priests, religious, deacons, catechists and ecclesial associations and movements of Cyprus.

Pope Francis is the second pontiff to visit Cyprus after Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. The motto of Pope Francis’ trip to the Mediterranean island is, “Comforting each other in the faith,” taken from the First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy. The Acts of the Apostles explains that the name of Saint Barnabas means “son of consolation.”

Nearly 81 percent of Cyprus’ 850,000 people are Christians, with Catholics numbering some 38,000, or about 4.47 per cent of the population. Muslims make up 2 percent. The vast majority of Cypriots identify themselves as Greek Orthodox. Many Christians trace their roots to the Crusaders who settled there after the fall of Jerusalem in the 12th century.

St. Paul stopped off in Cyprus in the first century AD and converted the island’s Roman governor Sergius Paulus to Christianity.

The visit to the two nations has an ecumenical tone. Besides going to strengthen the faith of the small Catholic communities, he said he will also meet the local heads of the Orthodox Churches in “apostolic fraternity.”

Describing Cyprus as “the outpost of the Holy Land on the continent” and “Greece, the home of classical culture,” he said his visit would be an opportunity to drink from the ancient wellsprings of Europe. Europe, he said, cannot ignore the Mediterranean, which has seen the spread of the Gospel and the development of great civilizations.

However, he lamented that today the Mediterranean Sea has become a great cemetery, with refugees and migrants swallowed up in its waves as they flee war and poverty. “As a pilgrim to the wellsprings of humanity,” the Pope said, he will re-visit migrants and refugees in the Greek island of Lesbos, convinced that “the sources of common life will only flourish again in fraternity and integration”.

Following his meeting with Catholic clergy, religious, and catechists gathered in Nicosia’s Maronite Cathedral of Our Lady of Grace, Pope Francis proceeded to meet with the Cyprus President Nikos Anastasiades, followed by an exchange of gifts and addresses given to local authorities and diplomatic representatives present.

President Anastasiades thanked Pope Francis for his visit to Cyprus, highlighting the nation’s long history of welcoming people to its land, and the key role it has played given its geographic location between west and east, while favoring peaceful coexistence and welcome to other peoples.

The multi-ethnic makeup is characteristic of the nation, he noted, while expressing his support for the work of the Holy See in promoting peace and dialogue throughout the world. He also noted how Cyprus has welcomed so many refugees and migrants to its land, and thanked Pope Francis for all he has done in this area, especially bringing 50 migrants from Cyprus to Italy. He underscored the ongoing challenge presented by a divided Cyprus.

Pope Francis in his address thanked the President and all Cypriots for their warm welcome noting how down through the centuries the people have welcomed foreigners, calling Cyprus “an open door, a harbour that unites.” while also continuing to be a “crossroads of civilizations”.

The Pope said he was deeply moved to follow in the steps of the first great missionaries, especially Saints Paul, Barnabas, and Mark, saying he comes as “a pilgrim” in their midst. He noted how these early Christians, through the gentle power of the Spirit, brought an “unprecedented message of beauty” that the country has inherited, through which it has become a “messenger of beauty among the continents,” reflected in the natural beauty of the island and surrounding sea. He likened Cyprus to a “pearl of great price in the heart of the Mediterranean.”

Looking at the challenges Cyprus faces, the Pope recalled the current pandemic which has hit the economy, the scourge of human trafficking, but especially the division of Cyprus, describing it as a “terrible laceration” endured over recent decades and causing deep suffering, especially by all those displaced. He said, “I pray for your peace, for the peace of the entire island, and I make it my fervent hope.”

He stressed that the keyword for the way of peace that reconciles conflicts and brings alive the beauty of unity is dialogue. He encouraged helping one other to believe in the “patient and unassuming power of dialogue,” which is never an easy road and takes twists and turns, but is the only way to reconcilation. “Let us nurture hope by the power of gestures, rather than by gestures of power,” he stressed. He praised a project promoted by the Embassy of Sweeden that aims to cultivate dialogue among religious leaders while calling for the protection of the religous and cultural heritage of all.

Source: vaticannews.va