Friday, 4th June. This afternoon, the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI made the first stop of his trip to Cyprus. He has already made two speeches in one aftenoon, on a visit where every word counts and where once again the Pope is awaited by all the components of the local community: the Cypriots who are hoping he will take a stance on the occupation of the northern part of the island; the Turks who will not appreciate it if the Pope touches on this subject; the island’s Orthodox, who are divided on the welcome to extend to the Pope from Rome; the Maronites of whom there are only just 6000 on the island - in the midst of 800,000 Greek Orthodox - and who, after having felt crushed in the middle of the conflict between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, today fear disappearing, due to pure and simple - and obvious - assimilation caused by mixed marriages. The words of Benedict XVI are also awaited with trepidation outside the island. Cyprus, this gateway to the Middle East where the Pope has chosen to go in pilgrimage in the footsteps of St. Paul, but also to give the Instrumentum laboris, the working document to prepare the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, is the same island where last week the boats from the sadly famous flotilla set off for Gaza. Concurrent events and in the tempest of the media: according to some sources, the document of the Synod is alleged to contain the severest condemnation that Rome has ever made of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. The Jewish state, one year after having welcomed the Pope to Israel, is now on the defensive. And as if wanting to make everyone happy, the Muslims are also looking witth interest at this visit, siding with their fellow Muslims in the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, all the more so as Turkey has now become the champion of the Arab Muslim world. Will the Pope speak of the pillage and destruction of the Christian heritage in the northern part of the island? And will these facts be attributed to Islam?
For the Pope, these three days on Cyprus are far from a sun-drenched holiday in a pleasant seaside resort.
The first stage of the journey is over and everything seems to have gone well. When he arrived at the airport, before the President of Cyprus, Demetris Christofias, the Pope, referring to the situation of the country, delicately expressed this wish: "May the love for your homeland and your families, and the desire to live in harmony with your neighbours under the benevolent protection of God Almighty, inspire you in your patient efforts to settle the problems that are still pending, which you share with the international community and which concern the future of your island." This may not have fully satisfied the President’s expectations and without doubt it will have created some difficulties for those Greek Orthodox who had already reproached the Pope for not having said enough against the Turks. Treated as a heretic for his commitment to inter-religious dialogue, he has also found himself up against the most radical of the Orthodox, embittered by the fact that he has not recognized the superiority of Orthodox theology.
In his magnificent speech on ecclesiastical communion and on the path towards unity, pronounced at the archaeological site of the Church of Ayia Kiriaki Chrysopolitissa in Paphos, during an ecumenical celebration, the Holy Father thanked the Orthodox Archbishop of Cyprus, Chrisostomos II, for having worked so hard in favour of this visit, silencing his detractors. The Holy Father replied to those who had called him a heretic with this fundamental truth, that relativizes all divisions: "the Truth is Jesus Christ." Apart from the speeches, this first day was marked by Benedict XVI’s embrace of Archbishop Chrysostomos II, hearing the Holy Father speak in Greek, seeing the President of Cyprus seated with the bishops, listening to the Gospel in the same language in which it was written - Greek - seeing all the bishops, cardinals and all the Ordinaries of the Holy Land recite Our Father in Greek, because they could all read it and also seeing the splendid welcome extended to the Pope by the Cypriots and by the many Filipinos on the island.
And our Franciscan friars will have been seen on television. The Father Custos of course, but also some of the fifty or so friars of the Custody present for the occasion. Tomorrow we will focus on the Custody, following the history of its presennce on the island.
Mab
To follow and gain a better understanding of the Holy Father’s visit, please see the section "The Pope in Cyprus" on our site, updated with the videos of the Franciscan Media Center, and the site of the Custody’s publishers in Milan: www.terrasanta.net.
and
http://www.papalvisit.org.cy/cgibin…
Ecumenical Celebration in the archeological area of the church of Agia Kiriaki Chrysopolitissa (Paphos, 4 June 2010)
For the Pope, these three days on Cyprus are far from a sun-drenched holiday in a pleasant seaside resort.
The first stage of the journey is over and everything seems to have gone well. When he arrived at the airport, before the President of Cyprus, Demetris Christofias, the Pope, referring to the situation of the country, delicately expressed this wish: "May the love for your homeland and your families, and the desire to live in harmony with your neighbours under the benevolent protection of God Almighty, inspire you in your patient efforts to settle the problems that are still pending, which you share with the international community and which concern the future of your island." This may not have fully satisfied the President’s expectations and without doubt it will have created some difficulties for those Greek Orthodox who had already reproached the Pope for not having said enough against the Turks. Treated as a heretic for his commitment to inter-religious dialogue, he has also found himself up against the most radical of the Orthodox, embittered by the fact that he has not recognized the superiority of Orthodox theology.
In his magnificent speech on ecclesiastical communion and on the path towards unity, pronounced at the archaeological site of the Church of Ayia Kiriaki Chrysopolitissa in Paphos, during an ecumenical celebration, the Holy Father thanked the Orthodox Archbishop of Cyprus, Chrisostomos II, for having worked so hard in favour of this visit, silencing his detractors. The Holy Father replied to those who had called him a heretic with this fundamental truth, that relativizes all divisions: "the Truth is Jesus Christ." Apart from the speeches, this first day was marked by Benedict XVI’s embrace of Archbishop Chrysostomos II, hearing the Holy Father speak in Greek, seeing the President of Cyprus seated with the bishops, listening to the Gospel in the same language in which it was written - Greek - seeing all the bishops, cardinals and all the Ordinaries of the Holy Land recite Our Father in Greek, because they could all read it and also seeing the splendid welcome extended to the Pope by the Cypriots and by the many Filipinos on the island.
And our Franciscan friars will have been seen on television. The Father Custos of course, but also some of the fifty or so friars of the Custody present for the occasion. Tomorrow we will focus on the Custody, following the history of its presennce on the island.
Mab
To follow and gain a better understanding of the Holy Father’s visit, please see the section "The Pope in Cyprus" on our site, updated with the videos of the Franciscan Media Center, and the site of the Custody’s publishers in Milan: www.terrasanta.net.
and
http://www.papalvisit.org.cy/cgibin…
Ecumenical Celebration in the archeological area of the church of Agia Kiriaki Chrysopolitissa (Paphos, 4 June 2010)