{"id":25323,"date":"2010-02-10T18:04:57","date_gmt":"2010-02-10T22:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2010\/02\/pope-benedict-to-visit-cyprus\/"},"modified":"2010-02-10T18:04:57","modified_gmt":"2010-02-10T22:04:57","slug":"pope-benedict-to-visit-cyprus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2010\/02\/pope-benedict-to-visit-cyprus\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Benedict to Visit Cyprus: what are the preparations?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In early June, Pope
\nBenedict XVI travesl to Cyprus, the third largest island in the Mediterranean
\nand a mixed group of religions. He’s making a pastoral visit where he will give
\nthe Middle East bishops the Instrumentum laboris (the working document focusing
\nthe meeting) of the Synod of Bishops on the Eastern Churches due to be held
\nnext October in the Vatican. This is yet another example of the Pope reaching out to the local Catholic churches and to the Orthodox Christians, Muslims and political leaders. It is hard for me to say this is a strategic visit but it certainly opens the mind that there are significant reasons in the pope’s mind as to why Cyprus and not another mixed culture. A good reason may be that he’s been to the Holy Land already and that neither Lebanon, Egypt nor Syria are willing to host the pope. At any rate, Cyprus is a logical choice because of the confluence of faith and reason.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

For those who don’t know, Cyprus has a small
\nCatholic community of the Maronite and Latin Churches. The Latin Church is
\ngoverned by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude, Archbishop Fouad
\nTwal, and for centuries have been assisted by the Franciscan friars of the
\nCustody of the Holy Land. Giampiero Sandionigi’s interview with Franciscan Father
\nUmberto Barato, a parish priest in Nicosia and Vicar General for Cyprus of the
\nLatin Patriarchate follows in brief.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Father Barato, the Pope receives
\ninvitations from many governments and episcopates but cannot accept them all.
\nHow do you explain his decision to come to Cyprus, an island with, after all, a
\nfairly small Catholic community? <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t know how many invitations the Pope
\nreceives and from how many countries. I only know that he decided to accept the
\ninvitation of the Orthodox Archbishop of Cyprus, Chrysostomos II, and the
\nPresident Dimitri Christofias<\/span>. There had been a precedent and perhaps that also
\ncounted: John Paul II had wanted to visit the island but, due to questions of
\ntime and the Pope’s poor health, he never made the journey. It is true that the
\nCatholic community in Cyprus is small, but I do not think that this is a
\ncontra-indication. However that may be, I believe that Benedict XVI decided to
\nmake the visit prior to the Synod on the Middle East<\/i>. In addition, he will also
\nhave thought about the political and religious situation of the island. It’s
\nnot that the Pope can solve the problem of the division of Cyprus or tell the
\nleaders what they should do, but his presence can give courage and a positive
\nimpulse to relations between the two sides.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When the trip was announced, some
\npeople imagined that it would have particular consequences on ecumenical
\ndialogue at a European, or even global, level. What do you think about this?
\nWhat are the daily relations between Catholics and Orthodox like in Cyprus, and
\nwith the Turkish Muslim minority?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

It’s natural that people think like that.
\nGoing to a country with an Orthodox majority, it is obvious that some people
\nthink that the meeting between the Pope and the leaders of the local Church can
\nbe ecumenical in character, that it is like a step ahead in the encounter,
\nunderstanding and reciprocal acceptance<\/span>. However, I do not believe that it can
\ngo further. I expect that after the visit, relations between the Catholic and Orthodox
\nChurches in Cyprus will become even closer. They are already excellent and at a
\nlevel that I do not believe can be found elsewhere in parts of the world where
\nthe two Churches coexist<\/i>. I’ll pass over the minor difficulties that sometimes
\nwe come up against. In general, these are the fruit of ignorance or prejudice
\nfuelled by the long separation and reciprocal non-recognition between the two
\nsides<\/b>. The positive fact is that the Catholic Church in Cyprus is accepted,
\nrecognized and esteemed for its work of apostolate and education<\/span>. There are
\nalready some forms of collaboration, but the Pope’s visit will certainly be a
\nprivileged occasion for the bonds to become even closer. With the Muslims, on
\nthe contrary, we have no relations.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In early June, Pope Benedict XVI travesl to Cyprus, the third largest island in the Mediterranean and a mixed group of religions. He’s making a pastoral visit where he will give the Middle East bishops the Instrumentum laboris (the working document focusing the meeting) of the Synod of Bishops on the Eastern Churches due to … Continue reading Pope Benedict to Visit Cyprus: what are the preparations?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2307,1773,1858,32081],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25323"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25323\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}