Written by Staff Writer by Katrina Beavan, CNN Cyprus, Cyprus
Pope Francis greeted Cypriot people on Thursday, urging the nation to put their differences aside in order to “cope with the turmoil that we face.”
Riding in a silver Fiat parked on the tarmac of Nicosia airport — as he did in 1948 during his first visit to the island — Francis praised the “sacral grandeur” of Cyprus, and its efforts to provide equal opportunity to all its citizens.
As the pontiff swept through the city on his way to the Kustapyli children’s hospital in the suburb of Limassol, he met with a group of children and a Palestinian man in exile.
“I’m passing a great city of which I want to be constantly awed,” the pope said during the Mass at the Campion College grounds, “but I take with me the long suffering of the people and the wounds of divisions that persist.
Travelling with a friend from Cyprus. #PopeinCyp #Pope2019 pic.twitter.com/YQIeZAWYyR — Sheikh Rashid AlThani (@Sheikh_AlThani) June 22, 2018
“To unite our history, the respect for the dignity of everyone and the solidarity we seek to promote my message is a most concrete request to you, every one of you. To do so is something you can accomplish at your own initiative.”
Francis added that the aim of the visit was “not the celebration of bitterness or aggression” but the “confidence and unity” that could “bring a solution to the problems and divisions of our continent and to the world.”
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The visit was announced on Tuesday, prompting celebrations from Cypriots both Christian and Muslim.
Syed Kamall, leader of Cyprus’s three main political parties, said Francis was “a man of peace.”
But like all neighboring countries, Francis encountered tensions between different ethnicities. In Cyprus, Turkish Cypriots are 90% of the population, while Greek Cypriots are 10%.
Citing “political conflict” as a reason for avoiding confrontation, the pope prayed for all Cypriots to “maintain mutual respect and let the ways of dialogue be the way forward.”
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Although the majority of the population of Cyprus are Catholic, Greek Cypriots continue to worship in Greek. They complain that Turkish Cypriots, who view Greek Cypriots as traitors, take priority in placing their cemeteries in place.
Turkish Cypriots claimed that Christan leaders deliberately kept the issue of Cyprus’s reunification “off the political agenda” during the last round of peace talks held in Geneva last year.
Previously known as the island of Cyprus, the island was divided in 1974 during a Greek-inspired coup in the island’s capital, Nicosia. The Greek government quickly attempted to introduce a pro-German economic model which affected Turkish Cypriots, who quickly formed a breakaway state in northern Cyprus.
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The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus declared independence from the Greek Cypriot government and is recognised by only Turkey.
Now, negotiations over reunification are under way in Brussels — where President Nicos Anastasiades and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Mustafa Akinci met again on Thursday to discuss the framework of a reunification agreement.
But, despite claims from Turkish Cypriots that the island was held together by “the winds of peace,” Catholics still suffer from ongoing discrimination, poverty and family breakdown.
Francis said that everything in Cyprus, “throughout the ages has been hurt to some degree by divisions that affect us now in our own community.”
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The papal visit to Cyprus is the first by a pope since Pope John Paul II visited in 1979.
The world’s first ecumenical pontiff, John Paul II laid the foundation for the ecumenical dialogue that is part of the Catholic-Orthodox unity, and was notorious for his frequent meetings with moderate Muslim clerics, who later interceded for peace talks.
He first visited the island in 1948, four years after the Second World War, when Cyprus was still a British colony. The island later became a member of the United Nations in 1960, after Britain introduced its Representation of the Crown Regulations Act.