On the island of Aphrodite, the time has come for enthusiasm for the 25,000 members of the country's Catholic community out of more than 1 million inhabitants, mostly Orthodox (80%).
The main avenues are blocked to traffic and nearly 600 police officers deployed to ensure the smooth running of the visit.
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Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiadis sees it as a highly political meeting, since Cyprus intends to cede land in the center of Nicosia, for the installation of a Vatican embassy.
"
It is a strong diplomatic symbol, for the island whose northern quarter has been occupied by the Turkish army since 1974 and while Turkey no longer wants reunification, after 47 years of negotiations, but talks of dividing the island in two states
”, underlines Christina Korai, Greek political analyst.
No particular enthusiasm
In Athens, the mood is somewhat different.
Some 50,000 Greek Catholics are registered in Greece out of a population of 10.5 million, and this religious minority has more than 200,000
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