Cypriot president broaches nation’s problem with pope

Benedict XVI disturbed by photos of churches destroyed by Turkish forces

Photo: Pope Benedict XVI looks through a book of photographs presented to him as a gift by Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos during a private audience at the Vatican in Rome yesterday. The photos in the album depicted Orthodox churches reduced to rubble during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.

By Daniela Petroff - The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI held a private audience yesterday with Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos, who gave the pontiff an album of photographs of destroyed churches in northern Cyprus under the Turkish occupation.

After Benedict welcomed the Cypriot at the entrance to his library in the Apostolic Palace, the president showed the leather-bound album to the pontiff, who looked upset as he leafed through the pages. Some of the pictures showed churches reduced to rubble, while others had been converted to restaurants, shops or other secular uses.

“Such destruction... incredible,” Benedict uttered, according to pool reporters who covered the greeting before the pontiff and the president began their private talks.

A Vatican statement singled out “with satisfaction” that Catholics on the island enjoy religious freedom. The Greek Cypriot population of Cyprus is largely Orthodox.

“The pope was very upset and expressed feelings of deep concern,” Papadopoulos later said of Benedict’s reaction to the photographs. “We all know his concern and deep interest in the preservation of churches and freedom of religion.”

In the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus, Ahmet Okan, adviser to Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat on political and cultural issues, said that while there were destroyed and converted churches on the Turkish-occupied side there were also several destroyed Ottoman Turkish buildings in the south. In a telephone conversation with The Associated Press, he contended that Turkish Cypriot calls for joint projects to restore Christian and Ottoman buildings were constantly being rebuffed by the Greek Cypriots. Turkish Cypriots were working toward restoring some of the churches but had limited resources to do it, Okan said.

The Vatican said that the pontiff and the Cypriot president “dwelled above all on topics dealing with the integration of the (European) continent and dialogue between cultures and religions which favors both sides getting closer.” The Vatican statement did not mention any particular cultures or religions in the context of integration.

Speaking to reporters in Rome, Papadopoulos said the talks did not address the pope’s November 28 - December 1 trip to Turkey or the predominantly Muslim country’s efforts to gain EU membership.

Touching on the problems of the divided island, the pope “listened to our views and, of course, as it was expected, His Holiness gave me his advice based on the need for reconciliation of disputes,” Papadopoulos told reporters.