On Friday, January 26, the Apostolic Nunciature in Cyprus was inaugurated with the participation of Vatican’s Deputy Foreign Minister Bishop Edgar Peña Parra; Cypriot Minister of Transport, Communications and Works Alexis Vafeades; Apostolic Nuncio to Cyprus residing in Jordan Archbishop Giovanni Pietro Dal Tozzo; and Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church Georgios III. Prior to the inauguration ceremony, the senior Vatican official met with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and also had a meeting with President of the Cypriot House of Representatives Annita Demetriou.

 

Following is the text of the address delivered by Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, substitute of the Secretariat of State at the inauguration of the Apostolic Nunciature in Cyprus:

 

Your Beatitude,

Your Excellency, Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Distinguished Religious and Civil Authorities,

Ambassadors and Members of the Diplomatic Corps,

Dear Priests and Consecrated Men and Women,

Eminent Representatives of Society and the World of Culture,

Ladies and Gentlemen!

 

I greet you most cordially [and I am grateful for the kind words addressed to me].  I would like to express my joy in coming to this country, with which the Holy See has had diplomatic relations for the past fifty years.  I bring you, before all else, the warm greetings of the Holy Father and I thank each of you for your presence:  efcharistó!  Thank you!

 

The inauguration of an Apostolic Nunciature is not only a diplomatic gesture, but a pastoral one and, I would add, a fraternal one as well.  For the Catholic Church feels at home in every nation.  She recognizes in each of them the home of many brothers and sisters, not only because there are Catholics in almost every country in the world, but also because the Church feels as “her own” the people she is called to serve, for the simple reason that that those people are loved by God.  The Christian faith, in fact, seeks to be inculturated among peoples, not by strategies but by conviction.  It does not seek to change their praiseworthy customs, but welcomes them as gifts, and strives to elevate them by recognizing their beauty.

 

In this spirit, we like to say that the Nunciature is “the house of the Pope” in a given country, and as such, it is called to foster an atmosphere of familiarity and fraternity.  In the present case, this new house is meant to bear witness to the Holy Father’s affection for the Cypriot people, for all those who live in this land and for all those who pass through it.  A house, then, as well as an office; a house, I would say, even more than an office.  Drawing upon this image of a house, I would like to share with you three wishes.

 

The first is that this building will be a house of encounter.  Pope Francis, during his pilgrimage to Cyprus in late 2021, noted that he had come “to a country geographically small, but historically great; to an island that down the centuries has not isolated peoples but brought them together; to a land whose borders are the sea; to a place that is the eastern gate of Europe and the western gate of the Middle East”; to “an open door, a harbour that unites,” and a “crossroads of civilizations” with “an innate vocation to encounter, favoured by the welcoming character of the Cypriot people” (Meeting with Authorities, Civil Society and the Diplomatic Corps, 2 December 2021).  Not by chance, he added, it was precisely here, “where Europe and the East meet, [that] there began the first great inculturation of the Gospel on this continent” (ibid).  Today, perhaps more than ever, the Holy See’s diplomatic service is aware of the need to promote, respectfully and constructively, the culture of encounter.  This is the real purpose of diplomacy.  Whenever tensions prevail over encounter and lead to confrontation, diplomacy has to acknowledge its defeat.  For diplomacy, by its very nature, seeks constantly to be at the service of the natural inclination of individuals and peoples to value social relations and the beauty of life in common.

 

In this regard, the Holy Father used the image of a pearl to describe Cyprus in its various aspects.  I believe that we can apply to the Pope’s house on Cypriot soil another image, that of a “treasure chest” where precious encounters can be kept and cherished.  Let this house, then, be a treasure chest of dialogue: first and foremost among the Catholics of the area, in the richness of their various origins and rites, Latin and Maronite.  That the Catholic Church has Cyprus at heart is shown not only by the inauguration of these premises, but also by the fact that, in 2022, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem erected a Latin Vicariate here, whose Ordinary, Fra’ Bruno Varriano, was recently appointed an Auxiliary Bishop.  As for the Maronite community, it is impressive to think of its centuries-long presence on the island and the significant contribution it has made to the growth of the country.  May this house also be a treasure chest of dialogue between Christians of different confessions.  In this regard, I would single out with great respect and fraternal affection His Beatitude Georgios III, Archbishop of Nova Justiniana and all Cyprus [, whom I was able to meet just now].  The Orthodox tradition has left its mark on this country; for her part, the Catholic Church desires, through this new building, to press forward on the path towards ever greater communion.  In this Apostolic Nunciature, important encounters will surely take place between diplomats, between those committed to promoting the dignity of the human person and the cause of peace, and with individuals who experience poverty and various forms of need.  Such encounters help all of us to appreciate the concrete situations and problems of life, in order to identify eventual solutions that do not remain abstract, but are concretely human.  May this place, then, be a house of encounter and a treasure chest of dialogue.

 

My second wish is that this Nunciature will be a house of fraternity.  First, by its witness, since those who live here are themselves a community.  Ordinarily, in fact, Apostolic Nunciatures are not only office buildings, but also places where people pray together and share important moments of the day and life.  Each Nunciature is also called to be a centre where human fraternity is promoted.  This is a challenge that needs to be faced in these days.  I think in particular of the issue of migration, which is so important in this country, a reality not without its problems and one that needs to be handled well, especially through a concrete and effective engagement of the entire European Union in regulating entries and particularly in distributing those who are accepted.  This is a matter not only of coping with an immediate crisis, but with designing “the architecture of the future”.  In this regard, the Pope recently stressed that “future generations will thank us if we were able to create the conditions for a necessary integration.  Otherwise, they will censure us if we favoured only sterile forms of assimilation.  Integration of migrants is a tiring effort but farsighted; [whereas] assimilation, which does not take into account differences, and remains rigidly fixed in its own paradigms, only makes ideas prevail over reality and jeopardizes the future, increasing distances and provoking ghettoization, which in turn sparks hostility and forms of intolerance.  We need fraternity as much as we need bread” (Address at the Final Session of the “Rencontres Méditerranéennes”, Marseille, 23 September 2023).

 

From this standpoint, may the new Nunciature be a treasure chest of charity, in support of the goodness that, often in hidden ways, makes itself felt on this island.  I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude for help given to those in need; here, the local Catholic community, together with numerous others, is in the forefront, fruitfully engaged in the daily accompaniment of individuals and in supporting a number of those needing material and spiritual assistance.

 

Dear friends, allow me to share a third and final wish: that this Nunciature will be a house of hope.  This year will conclude in Rome with the opening of the Holy Door and the beginning of the solemn Holy Year focused precisely on the theme of hope.  Here in Cyprus, opening a door of hope means coming to terms with a wound that is still open and bleeding.  I think of all those who cannot return to their homes, but also of various places of worship, of the social and personal wounds caused by the division of the island, and of the four Maronite villages in the north of the country, whose identity must be protected.  In all these areas, every possible effort must be made to prioritize the concrete needs of the population.  The Holy Father had called for nurturing hope “by the power of gestures, rather than hoping in gestures of power” (Meeting with Authorities, Civil Society and the Diplomatic Corps, 2 December 2021).  His house here, which allows for a more stable and institutional presence in this territory, with a representative on site who, as Chargé d’Affaires, works with the Apostolic Nuncio, is a gesture that is meant to serve the cause of dialogue and peace.

 

Finally, may this Nunciature be a treasure chest of peace.  Once again, as the Holy Father said, if “Cyprus, as a geographic, historical, cultural and religious crossroads, is in a position to be a peacemaker”, to be “a workshop of peace in the Mediterranean” (ibid), this housee will be able to be, in years to come, a welcoming and hospitable place where patterns of peaceful coexistence can be woven for the benefit of the peoples of the entire region, now and in the future.  It is evident to all of us how sorely this is needed in the Middle East, so near to us, which we keep in our hearts and prayers with great sorrow and concern.

 

A house of encounter, fraternity and hope; a treasure chest of dialogue, charity and peace.  In these words, which convey the Holy See’s desire for the community of nations, as well as the strategic importance of this country in fostering processes of rapprochement, we invoke the blessing of Almighty God on this Nunciature, on its activities and on this beloved country: O Theós na evloghí tin Kípro!  [God bless Cyprus!]