Saturday in Nicosia Benedict, XVI met with an important figure among Cypriot Muslims, Shaykh Nazim al-Qubrusi al-Haqqani, 89, spiritual leader of a Sufi movement, and participant in interreligious dialogue. The brief meeting took place outside the apostolic nunciature before the Pope went to celebrate Mass in the Church of the Holy Cross.
The two religious leaders met along the "Green Line,"
the U.N. buffer zone, which, since the Turkish invasion of 1974, divides the
Turkish Cypriot community and the Greek Cypriot community.
According to a Vatican Radio report, the Sufi leader lives behind
the church in the north of Cyprus, and came to greet the Pontiff. He apologized
for sitting down. "I am very old," said Shaykh Nazim.
"I am very old, too," the Pope responded. Shaykh Nazim then presented Pope Benedict with an ornate cane, a plaque
inscribed with the Arabic word for peace and a Muslim prayer-bead rope. The Pope, for
his part, offered Nazim a medallion. They then embraced in a gesture of
fraternal affection.
At the end of the meeting Shaykh Nazim asked Pope Benedict to pray for
him. "I will certainly do so," the Pope answered. "Let's
pray for each other."
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