EU bishops in Cyprus echo Pope Leo XIV: ‘Let those who have weapons lay them down’

From Maronite villages in the Turkish-controlled north of Cyprus, EU bishops echoed Pope Leo XIV’s plea to lay down arms in the Holy Land and pledged to support the Maronite cause in Brussels.

Catholic bishops of the European Union closed their spring plenary in Cyprus with an urgent appeal for peace in the Middle East and a public gesture of solidarity with the islandʼs Maronite Christians, whose villages and churches lie in the north of the island, under Turkish military control since 1974.

Meeting in Nicosia from April 22–24 under the Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the EU, delegates of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) endorsed a declaration that echoed Pope Leo XIVʼs recent appeal: “Let those who have weapons lay them down.”

In his opening address, Maronite Archbishop Selim Sfeir called Cyprus a “natural bridge” between Europe and the Middle East and named greed as the root of wars “that are regional only in name.”

The Church, he told the assembly, citing Paul VI, is “an expert in humanity.”

Support for Christians

On April 23, the feast of St. George, the bishops celebrated Mass in the Maronite rite in Kormakitis, Cyprus.

In his homily, Sfeir said the once-flourishing Cypriot Maronite community had been reduced to four villages and that the unresolved Cyprus question continued to deprive the faithful of access to their properties, including — according to Sfeir — two parishes and the historic Monastery of the Prophet Elijah.

The bishops past occupied homes and churches under restricted access; they pledged to advocate within EU institutions for the rights and heritage of Cyprus’ Christians.

Cypriot Deputy Minister of Culture Vasiliki Kassianidou used her address to the assembly to set out Nicosiaʼs EU agenda, citing more than 550 religious monuments under occupation, over 20,000 stolen icons, and looted cemeteries since 1974. Combating the illicit trafficking of cultural property, she said, is a Cypriot presidency priority.

The plenary also heard from Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, who joined by video link and described the daily reality of Christians in the Holy Land since October 2023.

He urged the European bishops to invest in interreligious dialogue at home as a model for the region.

EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica briefed the assembly on the new EU Pact for the Mediterranean, with its 21 initiatives focused on youth, investment, and migration, and on Europeʼs “demographic winter.” A separate meeting with His Beatitude Georgios III, Greek Orthodox archbishop of Nova Justiniana and All Cyprus, completed the ecumenical program.

COMECEʼs autumn plenary convenes in Brussels from Oct. 14–16.

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