Brazilian psychotherapist to become Cyprus's first Catholic bishop in 500 years

Pope Francis appointed Bruno Varriano as the first Catholic bishop of the Republic of Cyprus since the Ottoman Empire. The ordination ceremony of the priest, the first in 500 years, is scheduled to take place in Nicosia on March 16.

The episcopal ordination will occur two months after Pope Francis appointed Bruno Varriano, a junior monk of the Custody of the Holy Land, as an assistant bishop of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in Cyprus.

The episcopal ordination will take place at the capital's conference center "Filoxenia" at 16:30 and will be the first of its kind in modern Cyprus.

The Ottoman invasion in 1571 led to the formal dissolution of the Cypriot Catholic Church, despite believers and clergy managing to remain on the island.

The first Israeli cardinal of Italian origin, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa, issued a statement expressing "gratitude and joy" for the appointment of the new auxiliary bishop Varriano.

"Strengthened by the fullness of the priesthood, the elected bishop will continue his mission as Patriarchal Vicar of the island of Cyprus," emphasized the clergyman.

Pierbattista Pizzaballa will also attend the ordination on Saturday along with Archbishop of Cyprus Georgios, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Athens Theodoros Kontidis, Maronite Archbishop of Cyprus Selim Sfeir, as well as other representatives of the Catholic Church from the Vatican, Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Poland, Ukraine, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus.

Government officials, diplomats, high-ranking officials, ministers, and the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, will also participate in the ceremony.

Bruno Varriano, of Brazilian origin, was born in São Paulo in 1971. He joined the Custody of the Holy Land in 1996. He is simultaneously a priest and a psychotherapist specializing in clinical psychology.

As a clinical psychologist, he worked at the French Hospital in Jerusalem. He holds a diploma in spiritual theology from the Pontifical University "Antonianum" in Rome and a diploma as a specialist in biblical formation.