Nicosia, Cyprus, Dec 9, 2021 / 12:00 pm
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem has said that Cyprus is “where Europe and the Holy Land meet,” in an interview reflecting on last week’s papal visit to the country.
Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa spoke to ACI Stampa, CNA’s Italian-language news partner, during Pope Francis’ whirlwind two-day trip to the island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
“Cyprus is part of the Holy Land. Cyprus, as I always like to say, is the periphery of Europe and the periphery of the Holy Land, where Europe and the Holy Land meet,” he said in the interview published on Dec. 7.
“Historically, it has always been linked to Jerusalem, it is a diocese of Jerusalem. One cannot think of Cyprus without Jerusalem.”