POPE IN CYPRUS – Meeting with the Catholic community of Cyprus
(June 5, 2010) Pope Benedict XVI who is on a pastoral visit to Cyprus, June 4-6, on
Saturday met the Catholic community of Cyprus at St. Maron Elementary School of the
Maronite Catholic Church. Below is the text of his discourse:
Dear brothers
and sisters in Christ, Είναι ευάρεστο σε μένα να είμαι μαζί με σας που είστε οι
αντιπρόσωποι της καθολικής κοινότητας της Κύπρου. (It’s my great joy to be with
you, representatives of the Catholic Community of Cyprus.) I thank Archbishop
Soueif for his kind words of welcome on your behalf and I thank in a special way the
children for their beautiful presentation. I also greet His Beatitude Patriarch Fouad
Twal, and salute the great and patient work of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy
Land in the person of Father Pizzaballa, here with us today. On this historic
occasion of the first visit of the Bishop of Rome to Cyprus, I come to confirm you
in your faith in Jesus Christ and to encourage you to remain of one heart and one
soul in fidelity to the apostolic tradition (cf. Acts 4:32). As the Successor of
Peter, I stand among you today to offer you the assurance of my support, my affectionate
prayers and my encouragement. We have just heard from the Gospel of John how
some Greeks, who had learned of the great works which Jesus was performing, approached
the Apostle Philip and said, “We wish to see Jesus” (cf. Jn 12:21). These words touch
all of us deeply. Like the men and women in the Gospel, we wish to see Jesus, to
know him, to love and to serve him, with “one heart and soul”. Furthermore, like
the voice from heaven in today’s Gospel which testified to the glory of God’s name,
the Church proclaims his name not simply for her own sake, but for the good of humanity
as a whole (cf. Jn 12:30). You too, Christ’s followers of today, are called to live
your faith in the world by adding your voices and actions to the promotion of the
Gospel values handed down to you by generations of Cypriot Christians. These values,
deeply embedded in your own culture as well as in the patrimony of the universal Church,
should continue to inspire your efforts to promote peace, justice and respect for
human life and the dignity of your fellow citizens. In this way, your fidelity to
the Gospel will surely benefit all Cypriot society. Dear brothers and sisters,
given your unique circumstances, I would also like to draw your attention to an essential
part of our Church’s life and mission, namely the search for greater unity in charity
with other Christians and dialogue with those who are not Christians. Especially
since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has been committed to advancing along
the path of greater understanding with our fellow Christians with a view to ever stronger
ties of love and fellowship among all the baptized. Given your circumstances, you
are able to make your personal contribution to the goal of greater Christian unity
in your daily lives. Let me encourage you to do so, confident that the Spirit of
the Lord, who prayed that his followers might be one (cf. Jn 17:21), will accompany
you in this important task. With regard to interreligious dialogue, much still
needs to be done throughout the world. This is another area where Catholics in Cyprus
often live in circumstances which afford them opportunities for right and prudent
action. Only by patient work can mutual trust be built, the burden of history overcome,
and the political and cultural differences between peoples become a motive to work
for deeper understanding. I urge you to help create such mutual trust between Christians
and non-Christians as a basis for building lasting peace and harmony between peoples
of different religions, political regions and cultural backgrounds. Dear friends,
I would invite you to look to the profound communion that you already share among
yourselves and with the Catholic Church throughout the world. With regard to the
immediate needs of the Church, I encourage you to pray for and to foster vocations
to the priesthood and religious life. As this Year for Priests draws to a close,
the Church has gained a renewed awareness of the need for good, holy and well-formed
priests. She needs men and women religious completely committed to Christ and to
the spread of God’s reign on earth. Our Lord has promised that those who lay down
their lives in imitation of him will keep them for eternal life (cf. Jn 12:25). I
ask parents to ponder this promise and to encourage their children to respond generously
to the Lord’s call. I urge pastors to attend to the young, to their needs and aspirations,
and to form them in the fullness of the faith. Here in this Catholic school,
let me also address a word to those working in the Catholic schools of the island,
especially the teachers. Your work is part of a long and esteemed tradition of the
Catholic Church in Cyprus. Continue patiently to serve the good of the whole community
by striving for educational excellence. May the Lord bless you abundantly in the
sacred trust which is the formation of almighty God’s most precious gift to us - our
children. I now address a special word to you, my dear young Catholics of Cyprus.
Παραμείνετε δυνατοί στην πίστη σας, γεμάτοι χαρά στην υπηρεσία του Θεού και γενναιόδωροι
με τον χρόνο σας και με τα τάλαντα σας. Βοηθήστε να κτισθεί ένα καλύτερο μέλλον για
την Εκκλησία και για την χώρα σας, προωθώντας το καλό των άλλων παρά το δικό σας.
(Be strong in your faith, joyful in serving the Lord and generous with your time
and talents! Help create a better future for the Church and your country by placing
the good of others before your own.) Dear Catholics of Cyprus, foster your
own harmony in communion with the universal Church and with the Successor of Peter,
and build up your fraternal bonds with each other in faith, hope and love. In a special
way, I wish to consign this message to those present who come from Kormákiti, Asómatos,
Karpásha and Aía Marina. I know of your desires and sufferings, and so I ask you
to carry my blessing, my closeness and my affection to all who come from your villages.
We Christians are a people of hope. For my part, I fervently hope and pray that,
with the commitment and good will of those concerned, a better life for all the inhabitants
of the island will be speedily assured. With these few words, I entrust all of
you to the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the intercession of Saints Paul
and Barnabas. Ο Θεός ας σας ευλογήση όλους! (May God bless you!)