Nearly 20,000 people are expected to attend holy mass at Nicosia’s Eleftheria Stadium on June 6 to conclude the three-day official visit to the island of Pope Benedict XVI, the first Pontiff ever to set foot in Cyprus.
Although the closed stadium has a capacity of 7,000, some 13,000 other faithful, mostly Catholics working here or married to Cypriots, will be watching outside.
The visit has been warmly welcomed by the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus that has sought to improve ties with the Vatican ever since Archbishop Chrysostomos II visited the Holy See three years ago, and it follows an invitation from President Demetris Christofias who was received by the Pope in March last year.
The pontifical visit also aims to thaw relations with the greater assembly of Orthodox churches as both faiths try to get closer and rid themselves of centuries of discord in the face of growing fundamentalism around the world.
The representative of the Archbishop of Cyprus, Fr. Demosthenis Demosthenous, said that the Church of Cyprus expresses joy and pleasure for the Pope’s visit, leading towards “peace, symbiosis and the final reconciliation.”
The ‘apostolic journey’ begins on Friday, June 4, when Pope Benedict will arrive in Paphos, on the footsteps of the apostle Paul of Tarsus, and will make a pilgrimage to the landmark St Paul’s Pillar at the archaeological site within the grounds of the Ayia Kyriaki church.
“The visit of the Holy Father is a pastoral visit with many dimensions,” the Apostolic Nuncio in Cyprus, Antonio Franco said at a press conference on Monday.
On Saturday, June 5, the Pope will meet Archbishop Chrysostomos II and on Sunday he will present to all the prelates of Catholic churches in the Middle East attending holy mass in Nicosia with the “Instrumentum Laboris” the document for the Synod of Middle East to be held in Rome next October.
Youssef Soueif, the Maronite Archbishop of Cyprus, stressed that the visit of Pope Benedict “is a grand and important event in the recent history of Cyprus and is a gesture of love and peace”.
He said that the Pope will meet President Christofias and the Catholic community at the Elementary School of Saint Maronas in Anthoupolis, followed by holy mass at the Holy Cross Latin church in Nicosia. On Sunday, after the holy mass at Eleftheria, the Pope will visit the Virgin Mary of Graces Maronite Cathedral at Paphos Gate.
Archbishop in Brussels, Constantinople
Meanwhile, Archbishop Chrysostomos II, is in Brussels this week where he will address a seminar at the European Parliament on “Religious Freedom and Holy Sites in the Republic of Cyprus”. The seminar is being hosted by Cypriot MEP Eleni Theocharous (EPP-ED) and will include speakers from the Armenian and Maronite communities and other Christian leaders.
After that he will fly to Constantinople for an official visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, at the invitation of Patriarch Bartholomeos.
The Archbishop will visit the Theological School of Halki and is hopeful of a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan, with whom he aims to discuss the restoration of the Apostolos Andreas monastery.
