Pope Benedict XVI on Friday began a three-day visit to Cyprus, marking the first by a pontiff to the ethnically divided island nation, DPA reported.
The Alitalia Airbus plane transporting the 83-year-old pontiff and his delegation of nearly 37 people landed at 2 pm (1200 GMT) at the airport in the seaside resort city of Paphos.
Those welcoming the pope included Greek Cypriot President Demitris Christofias and the leader of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, Archbishop Chrysostomos II.
Security surrounding the visit was described as the tightest the island has ever seen, with hundreds of security personnel and police on alert.
The trip is also Benedict's first to a majority Orthodox country, and comes amid warming relations between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, which split in the 11th century in what is known as the Great Schism.
Shortly after his arrival, the pontiff, together with Chrysostomos II, was set to preside over an ecumenical ceremony at a site commemorating St Paul's stay on the island.
During his visit, Benedict will be staying at the papal nunciature, which serves as the Vatican's embassy in Cyprus' divided capital of Nicosia.
Cyprus was ethnically split in 1974 when Turkey invaded the northern third of the island after a coup by supporters of a union with Greece. Turkish Cypriots declared an independent republic in the north in 1983, but only Turkey recognises it, maintaining 35,000 troops there.
The nunciature is located near a United Nations military buffer-zone bordering Turkish-controlled territory which Benedict is not scheduled to visit during trip.
However, the Vatican has said there is a possibility that the pope would meet with members of the Muslim community living on the Greek Cypriot side.
Vatican officials have said the main focus of the pontiff's apostolic visit to Cyprus is improving relations with the Orthodox Church and meeting with the island's small Maronite community - an Eastern rite church also present in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East that recognises the pope's leadership.
He will also meet with other Roman Catholics - numbering around 20,000 people on the island.
Benedict will also use the trip to meet with leaders from Catholic churches in the region and to unveil an "Instrumentum Laboris," or working document, in preparation for a special synod of Middle Eastern bishops to take place at the Vatican in October.