Pope to meet Cyprus' Orthodox leader to strengthen ties

Pope Francis is planning to meet with the leader of Cyprus’ Greek Orthodox Church with the aim of further mending an ideological and political rift between the Catholic West and the Orthodox East

NICOSIA, Cyprus -- Pope Francis plans to meet with the leader of Cyprus’ Greek Orthodox Church on Friday with the aim of further mending an ideological and political rift between the Catholic West and the Orthodox East that dates back nearly a millennium.

Francis and Archbishop Chrysostomos II are meeting on the second day of the pope’s three-day Cyprus trip. The two will join the Holy Synod, the highest decision-making body of the Greek Orthodox Church. Francis is scheduled to preside over an ecumenical prayer service with migrants later in the day.

Although Cyprus comprises a tiny part of the Eastern Orthodox community with around 800,000 faithful, Cypriot church leaders point to the Mediterranean island’s role as the “gateway” to Christianity’s westward expansion owing to its proximity to the faith’s birthplace.

Christianity first spread to Cyprus in 45 A.D., when the Apostle Paul converted the island’s Roman governor, Sergius Paulus, while on the first stop of his first mission to spread the faith. The Cypriot Church was itself said to have been founded by another apostle, Barnabas.