(Aug. 22, 2012) Many Christian churches in the Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus have
been desecrated and transformed into storage facilities, museums or even mosques,
Archbishop Chrysostomos II of the Church of Cyprus said on Monday. The prelate told
the 33rd Rimini Meeting in the Italian city on the Adriatic coast that
120 Christian churches have been affected and that the artworks in the churches have
also been confiscated and sold. The archbishop said that Cyprian Christians have
also suffered attacks and a lack of religious liberty. He added that those who
wish to visit sites such as the tomb of the Apostle Barnabas and other sacred places
have to pay to enter. The Archbishop said that Turkey is trying to eliminate Christianity
in the part of Cyprus that they control. Cancelling out the Christian presence is
worrying, he said, as Christianity’s values have so much to contribute to humanity.
Another speaker at Rimini’s meeting, Franco Frattini, a former minister for foreign
affairs in the Italian government and now the president of the Alcide de Gasperi Foundation,
agreed with the remarks of the Cyprian archbishop and said that religious liberty
is not limited to personal worship but includes the ability to express the faith publically.
Rimini’s week-long meeting that concludes on Saturday (Aug. 25) has as its theme “By
nature, Man in relation to the Infinite”.