The December 2-6 apostolic journey will include nine speeches, two homilies, and an Angelus address, and will be the 84-year-old’s third journey outside Italy this year (following visits to Iraq in March, and Budapest and Slovakia in September).

Cyprus, an eastern Mediterranean nation of 1.3 million (map), is 70% Christian (67% Orthodox) and 23% Muslim; Turkey occupied the northern half of Cyprus in 1974. Greece, a nation of 10.6 million (map), is 89% Christian (87% Orthodox) and 6% Muslim.