Israel's deadly commando raid on a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla "will not influence" Pope Benedict XVI's trip to Cyprus at the weekend, the Vatican spokesman said Tuesday.Monday's raid in which at least nine people were killed was "a very sad and distressing event for the general climate" in the Middle East, but it will not affect the pontiff's three-day visit beginning on Friday, Federico Lombardi told a news conference.
Unveiling the pope's program, Lombardi said "peace will be the key of this trip," the first by any pope to the Mediterranean island state, and Benedict's first to a mainly Orthodox country.
Lombardi added that "the pope's style is to say things in a very balanced fashion and to speak about peace for all."
Benedict will be visiting at the invitation of both Cyprus President Demetris Christofias and Archbishop Chrysostomos II, head of the Church of Cyprus, which is part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church.
The visit will emphasize unity among Christian churches, Lombardi said, noting that Cyprus' Orthodox Church "has good and strong relations" with its much larger Russian counterpart.
Relations between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church, which counts some four-fifths of the world's Orthodox Christians, have been tense for centuries, and were again strained in recent years by Orthodox accusations of Catholics proselytising in post-Soviet Russia.
Reportedly, several hardline Cypriot Orthodox bishops who view the pope as a heretic have said they will snub the visit, but Lombardi dismissed the opposition as "marginal."
"I don't think that this will have much effect on the overall climate of the trip, which will certainly be very warm," he said.
SIC: TMG