Pope Francis arrived in Cyprus on Thursday. He called on residents to “welcome and integrate one another,” referencing the divisions that the migrant crisis has sowed on the island nation.

The country has said it is struggling to cope with an influx of migrants, many of whom travel by boat from the Middle East.

Speaking to reporters on the plane from Rome, the Pope said the visit “will touch some wounds.”

Francis’ advocacy for migrants and refugees is a notable cornerstone of his papacy.

The pope, who has called the Mediterranean a “great cemetery”, has arranged for 50 migrants to be transferred to Italy after their visit this week. The Vatican has yet to confirm that plan.

Francis will also visit Greece during his five-day visit, which includes the island of Lesbos, where thousands of refugees live in unsanitary conditions in a migrant camp.

On the first leg of his journey, on a visit to a Maronite cathedral, the Pope delivered a message of reconciliation and said: “In your spirit of brotherhood, may you remind all and the whole of Europe that we need to work together To build a future worthy of humanity, to remove divisions, to break down walls, to dream and to work for unity.”

“We need to welcome and integrate each other and walk together as brothers and sisters,” he said.

There are about 8,000 Maronites on the island who are members of the Catholic faith. Their descendants began to settle in Cyprus from the 8th century onwards.

The Pope called on the European continent to find a way forward, saying it needed “reconciliation and unity”.

“For it will not be the walls of fear and the vetoes dictated by nationalist interests that ensure its progress, nor will economic reform alone serve to guarantee its security and stability.”

The Pope will stay at the Vatican Embassy in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, which at the time sits on the dividing line as a result of the Turkish invasion triggered by a 1974 coup sponsored by the military junta that controlled Greece.

A church on the premises that houses the embassy still has gunshots.

The northern part of the island, including a part of its capital, is controlled by a Turkish Cypriot administration that is recognized as an independent state only by Turkey.

Francis, who shunned big, bulletproof cars, traveled in a little black Fiat 500 with the windows open. They were greeted with cheers and applause as the vehicle passed through the narrow streets of the capital.