holidays in Ayia Napa

1:02pm Wednesday 2nd June 2010 in Holiday information

Pope Causes Trouble in Cyprus

Larnaca and Paphos airports are both trying to outdo each other as they vie for the attention of the Pope as he makes his official visit this June. His current itinerary has Pope Benedict XVI landing in Paphos and departing from Larnaca, however Larnaca airport is working hard to entice him to land there too.

No, he's not taking his summer holidays in Ayia Napa this year; he is on an official visit. The visit follows an invitation during a visit to the Vatican last year by Archbishop Chrysostomos and is the first visit a Pope has made to the island in modern times. The Foreign Ministry and the Vatican have confirmed that the Pope will land in Paphos and changing that now would cause too many problems. Archbishop Chrysostomos and President Demetris Christofias are scheduled to receive the Pope at Paphos airport in an official reception.

The Pope is then scheduled to attend the Church of Ayia Ktriaki in Kato Paphos (Lower Paphos) where he will hold an hour long outdoor Divine Liturgy service. This area is considered to be sacred by the Catholic faith as Saint Paul is believed to have preached here during the first century. Benedict will then stay the night in Nicosia at the Franciscan convent near the Holy Cross Catholic Church.

The Pope will also deliver a speech to Church leaders from the Middle East outlining topics to be discussed at the Synod of Bishops taking place during October in Rome.

So the competition will continue as Larnaca strive to complete the €1.5 million upgrade of the VIP lounge, originally planned ready for the island taking over the EU presidency in 2012, but now hopefully completed before June.

So as you are stretching out on that beach in Coral Bay, strolling around the harbour in Limassol, or partying the night away on your holidays in Ayia Napa you might just see the Pope and his entourage doing a little bit of sight seeing in the area.