According to the Holy See Press Office, Francis’ next apostolic trip will take place between December 2 and 6. 2021.
Newsroom (November 8, 2021, 11:50 AM, Gaudium Press) The Holy See Press Office has confirmed the dates for Pope Francis’ next apostolic trip. As previously announced, the Pontiff will go to Cyprus and Greece.
From December 2 to 4, the Holy Father will visit the city of Nicosia, Cyprus. Then, from December 4 to 6, Francis will go to Greece, where he will visit Athens and the island of Lesbos.
Pope’s second visit to Greece
This will be Pope Francis’ second trip to Lesbos. In 2016 he spent a full day on the island. On that occasion, the Holy Father drew attention to the situation of migrants on the island, which has a refugee camp.
The logo of Pope Francis’ trip to Greece is a ship crossing the turbulent waters of our world, with the cross of Christ as its mast and its sails driven by the wind of the Holy Spirit.
Apostolic Trip to Cyprus
The motto of this apostolic journey is taken from a Message of the Pope for the 36th World Youth Day: “Let us be open to the surprises of God, who wants his light to shine on our path. A Vatican statement says that this motto “expresses the hope that the Pope’s visit will bring a ray of light into the future of Greece, a country of deep-rooted faith and an illustrious past.”
Francis will be the second Pope to visit Cyprus. In 2010, Benedict XVI travelled to this Mediterranean island. The official theme of this upcoming trip of the Holy Father to Cyprus, “Comforting One Another in Faith,” was inspired by the name of the Apostle Barnabas, which can mean son of consolation.
Message from the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
Following the announcement of Pope Francis’ trip to Cyprus, a country under his jurisdiction of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the same expressed his joy saying he was grateful and honoured for the visit, “which is intended to be a pilgrimage and an opportunity for encounter”
“It is a pilgrimage in the footsteps of the apostle Barnabas, the apostle of the nations, together with Paul, father of the Church of Cyprus. It is an opportunity for an encounter with the reality of the Middle East that spills into the Mediterranean – and into Cyprus – the drama of families seeking refuge from war, poverty, power struggles and religious sectarianism,” the religious stressed. (EPC)
Compiled by Zephania Gangl
