On his second day in Cyprus, Pope Francis meets the Orthodox, is at a mass for the small local Catholic community and will be in prayer with the migrants.
In the morning, at the Orthodox Archbishopric of Nicosia, the courtesy visit of Chrysostomos II, Orthodox Archbishop of Cyprus.
Then the meeting with the Holy Synod at the Orthodox Cathedral and the celebration of mass for the Catholic community at the 'Gsp Stadium' of the Cypriot capital.
In the afternoon, ecumenical prayer with migrants in the parish church of Santa Croce, before returning to the Apostolic Nunciature, where the Pope is staying in his stay in Cyprus.
"In the face of all personal darkness and the challenges we face in the Church and in society, we are called to renew fraternity. If we remain divided among ourselves, if each thinks only of himself or his group, if we do not huddle together, we will we dialogue, we do not walk together, we cannot fully recover from blindness ". Thus Pope Francis in the mass celebrated at the Gsp Stadium in Ncosia for the Catholic community of Cyprus. "Healing - he said - comes when we carry wounds together, when we face problems together, when we listen to each other and talk to each other. It is the grace of living in community, of understanding the value of being a community". "I ask for you - he continued -: may you always be together, always be united; go forward in this way and with joy: Christian brothers, children of the one Father.And I ask it for myself too. "" It is nice to see you and to see that you live with joy the liberating proclamation of the Gospel - Francis said -. I thank you for that. It is not a question of proselytism, but of testimony; not of moralism that judges, but of mercy that embraces; not of external worship, but of lived love. I encourage you to continue on this path "." Let's go out to bring the light we have received - he exhorted -, let's go out to illuminate the night that often surrounds us! There is a need for Christians who are enlightened but above all luminous, who touch with tenderness the blindness of their brothers; who with gestures and words of consolation turn on lights of hope in the dark. Christians who sow shoots of the Gospel in the dry fields of everyday life,that they bring caresses in the solitudes of suffering and poverty ". According to the Pontiff," each of us is blind in some way because of sin, which prevents us from 'seeing' God as Father and others as brothers "." This does sin distorts reality - he explained -: it makes us see God as master and others as problems. It is the work of the tempter, who falsifies things and tends to show them to us in a negative light to throw us into despair and bitterness. "" And ugly sadness, which is dangerous and does not come from God, nestles well in solitude - added Francesco -. Therefore, you cannot face the dark alone. If we carry our inner blindness on our own, we are overwhelmed. We need to stand next to each other, to share the wounds,to face the road together ".
And there will be 50 refugees who, on the initiative of Pope Francis, will be transferred from Cyprus to Italy and all the operations concerning the transfer, hospitality in Italy and the integration path will be economically borne by the Holy See. According to well-informed sources, the first group of 12-15 people should leave before Christmas, the others will follow between January and February 2021. From a regulatory point of view, the operation is called a "relocation for humanitarian reasons" . The accompaniment of the 50 refugees in Italy and the integration process will be handled by the Community of Sant'Egidio. Among the 50 people currently hosted in Cyprus and who will be transferred to Italy, there are nationals from Syria, Congo, Cameroon and some from Iraq.Among them also families with children.
