Pope Francis to give open-air mass on Cyprus visit
Pope Francis was set to speak to thousands of Catholics at an open-air mass in Cyprus on Friday, the second day of a visit to the divided island that has focused heavily on the plight of migrants.
As a gesture of solidarity to those fleeing poverty and conflict, the 84-year-old pontiff was expected to offer 50 migrants now in Cyprus a chance for a new life in Italy, the president of the host country said.
Many of the 7,000 faithful expected at Nicosia's main football stadium at 0800 GMT Friday will be overseas workers from the Philippines and South Asia who make up a large proportion of the 25,000 Catholics in mainly Greek-Orthodox Cyprus.
The pope will later hold an ecumenical prayer service with asylum seekers from dozens of nations at Nicosia's Church of the Holy Cross, located near the UN-patrolled "Green Line" that splits the country.
Francis -- on his 35th international trip since becoming pope in 2013 -- is the second Catholic pontiff to visit Cyprus after Benedict XVI went in 2010. He travels on to Greece on Saturday morning.
His itinerary Friday starts with a visit to the Holy Archbishopric and the nearby Apostle Varnavas Cathedral, in the walled Old City not far from the barbed wire, sandbags and bullet-marked abandoned houses that mark the buffer zone of Europe's last divided capital.
