Pope Francis has stressed the importance of community and urged people to work together to heal their pain as he celebrated mass in Cyprus for thousands of Catholics, many of them overseas workers.
The head of the Catholic Church led the open-air ceremony at GSP Stadium outside Nicosia, the capital city, on the second day of a visit to the divided island.
The pontiff’s trip has focused heavily on the plight of migrants, 50 of whom he is expected to offer the chance of a new life in Italy, the president of the host country said.
Overseas workers from the Philippines and other Asian countries make up a sizeable proportion of the 25,000 Catholics in mainly Greek-Orthodox Cyprus.
Footage filmed outside the stadium on Friday morning showed crowds of people queuing to enter.
The Pope's gospel reading told of how Jesus restored the sight of two blind men after they professed their faith in him.
Pope Francis told his congregants that sin distorts people’s view of God and makes them “see each other as problems”.
“Dear brothers and sisters, faced with our inner darkness and the challenges before us in the church and in society, we are called to renew our sense of fraternity,” he told the congregation.
“We remain divided if each person thinks only of himself or herself or his or her group, if we refuse to stick together. If we do not dialogue and work together, we will never be completely healed of our blindness.
“Healing takes place when we carry our pain together, when we face our problems together, when we listen and speak to one another. That is the grace of living in community, of recognising how important it is to be in community.”
One woman taking part in the “Prayers of the Faithful” invited worshippers to join her in praying that migrant and refugees would receive “humane and fraternal hospitality” in their host nations. Prayers were recited in English, Filipino and Arabic.
Before the mass, the Pope visited the Holy Archbishopric of the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus in Nicosia, seeking to improve historically difficult relations between the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches.
"Where our relations are concerned, history has opened broad furrows between us but the Holy Spirit desires that with humility and respect we once more draw close to one another," he said in an address to Orthodox clerics, including Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus.
Elena Shentsova, an Orthodox Christian originally from Ukraine, said she woke up early to see the event.
"I'm Orthodox and I hope he will spread a message of dialogue between the different religions, to be all more close," the 42-year-old told AFP.
Later on Friday, the Pope, 84, will meet migrants from dozens of nations at Nicosia's Church of the Holy Cross, near the UN-patrolled Green Line that splits the country.
He will hold an “ecumenical prayer service” for the migrants, some of whom have been in the country for months awaiting an outcome for their asylum applications.
Francis, on his 35th international trip since becoming pope in 2013, is the second pope to visit Cyprus after Benedict XVI went in 2010.
Cyprus has been split since 1974 when Turkish forces invaded and occupied the island's northern third in response to a military coup sponsored by the Greek junta in power at the time.
Only Ankara recognises the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and tension simmers between the two sides, with the south accusing the north of sending irregular migrants across the dividing line.
After wrapping up the two-day visit, Pope Francis will travel on to Greece on Saturday morning.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Scotland 371-5, 50 overs (C MacLeod 140 no, K Coetzer 58, G Munsey 55)
England 365 all out, 48.5 overs (J Bairstow 105, A Hales 52; M Watt 3-55)
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One in four Americans don't plan to retire
Nearly a quarter of Americans say they never plan to retire, according to a poll that suggests a disconnection between individuals' retirement plans and the realities of ageing in the workforce.
Experts say illness, injury, layoffs and caregiving responsibilities often force older workers to leave their jobs sooner than they'd like.
According to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research, 23 per cent of workers, including nearly two in 10 of those over 50, don't expect to stop working. Roughly another quarter of Americans say they will continue working beyond their 65th birthday.
According to government data, about one in five people 65 and older was working or actively looking for a job in June. The study surveyed 1,423 adults in February this year.
For many, money has a lot to do with the decision to keep working.
"The average retirement age that we see in the data has gone up a little bit, but it hasn't gone up that much," says Anqi Chen, assistant director of savings research at the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College. "So people have to live in retirement much longer, and they may not have enough assets to support themselves in retirement."
When asked how financially comfortable they feel about retirement, 14 per cent of Americans under the age of 50 and 29 per cent over 50 say they feel extremely or very prepared, according to the poll. About another four in 10 older adults say they do feel somewhat prepared, while just about one-third feel unprepared.
"One of the things about thinking about never retiring is that you didn't save a whole lot of money," says Ronni Bennett, 78, who was pushed out of her job as a New York City-based website editor at 63.
She searched for work in the immediate aftermath of her layoff, a process she describes as akin to "banging my head against a wall." Finding Manhattan too expensive without a steady stream of income, she eventually moved to Portland, Maine. A few years later, she moved again, to Lake Oswego, Oregon. "Sometimes I fantasise that if I win the lottery, I'd go back to New York," says Ms Bennett.
Who are the Soroptimists?
The first Soroptimists club was founded in Oakland, California in 1921. The name comes from the Latin word soror which means sister, combined with optima, meaning the best.
The organisation said its name is best interpreted as ‘the best for women’.
Since then the group has grown exponentially around the world and is officially affiliated with the United Nations. The organisation also counts Queen Mathilde of Belgium among its ranks.
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What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
