Catholicos Visit to Vatican

Catholic News Service

May 9 2008
Pope tells Armenian Orthodox God can work miracle of Christian unity
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- God can work miracles, including the miracle of
Christian unity, Pope Benedict XVI told the Armenian Orthodox
patriarch and 18 bishops.

"If our hearts and minds are open to the Spirit of communion, God can
work miracles again in the church, restoring the bonds of unity," the
pope said May 9 during a prayer service with Catholicos Karekin II,
patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Catholicos Karekin was visiting the Vatican along with Armenian
Orthodox bishops from Armenia, Russia, Georgia, Iraq, Israel, Turkey,
Egypt, Syria, the United States, Canada, Brazil, France, Italy and
Germany.

Some 100 Armenian pilgrims from around the world joined Pope Benedict
and the Armenian bishops for the midday prayer service in the
Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace; afterward, the patriarch
joined the pope for lunch.

Speaking during the prayer service, Pope Benedict looked toward the
May 11 celebration of Pentecost, saying, "We will pray earnestly to
the Father, asking him to send his Holy Spirit, the Spirit whose task
it is to maintain us in divine love and lead us into all truth."

The pope said that while the path to restoring Christian unity appears
long and difficult and there are "deep and painful divisions" still
needing to be healed the Holy Spirit can unite people as occurred on
the first Pentecost.

The Spirit "can open doors that are locked, inspire words that have
been forgotten, heal relations that are broken," he said.

Pope Benedict prayed that the work of the international
Catholic-Oriental Orthodox theological dialogue "will bring us closer
to full and visible communion and that the day will come when our
unity in faith makes possible a common celebration of the Eucharist."
The Armenian Apostolic Church is an Oriental Orthodox church.

The pope also praised the Armenian Orthodox for the "remarkable
pastoral results that have been achieved" since the breakup of the
Soviet Union.

Catholicos Karekin raised political questions that the pope did
not. He said the people of Armenia are suffering from the results of
an embargo imposed by Azerbaijan and Turkey related to ongoing
tensions in the region, specifically the independence efforts by
ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave in Azerbaijan.

Turning to the importance of ecumenical relations, Catholicos Karekin
said, "Faithful to the holy church fathers and their legacy, despite
our differences and unique characteristics, we shall place greater
importance on that which unites us."

While theological differences remain, he said, Christians have an
obligation to work together because "many environmental, social,
political, economic and moral issues urgently need attention."

"True respect for life and man and love for God is diminishing," he
said. "Only through inclusive cooperation shall we be able to better
serve the establishment of peace in the world and to better defend
human rights and the rights of nations, families and those classes of
society which are at risk," he said.

Speaking to reporters after his lunch with the pope, Catholicos
Karekin said his visit was a further example of "that warm atmosphere
of love and respect" that exists between Catholics and Armenian
Orthodox.

The warm relations, he said, are found not simply between church
leaders, "but also among the communities, parishes and dioceses
throughout the world."

Archbishop Avak Asadourian, primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church
in Iraq, was asked about the situation of the faithful in his
violence-torn country.

"When we speak of Iraq today and the severe difficulties Iraqis face,
we do not want to differentiate between the different religions
because the plight is common to all. Terrorism or bullets do not
differentiate between religions," the archbishop said. "The
difficulties are the same for everyone across the board."

ANSA English Media Service
May 9, 2008 Friday 2:29 PM CET
ARMENIAN PATRIARCH IN TALKS WITH POPE
Vatican City

(ANSA) - Vatican City, May 9 - The head of the Armenian Apostolic
Church, Karekin II, on Friday invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit
Etchmiadzin, the Armenian Church's equivalent of the Vatican. Karekin
arrived in Rome with a delegation of bishops from the Armenian Church
earlier this week and on Friday met with the pope ahead of an
ecumenical service at the Vatican attended by both religious
leaders. Speaking at the event, Benedict expressed his gratitude for
the excellent relations between Catholics and the Armenian Church, but
said that ''there is still much to do to calm the deep and sorrowful
divisions'' between the various Christian churches worldwide.

''The road towards the re-establishment of full and visible communion
between all Christians remains long and arduous,'' he said. The pope
also highlighted the struggle of the Armenian Church, echoing an
appeal to the international community he made on Wednesday in St
Peter's Square to condemn the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians at the
beginning of the 20th century during a Turkish campaign of
''denationalisation''. ''The recent story of the Armenian Apostolic
Church has been written with the contrasting colours of persecution
and martyrdom, of obscurity and hope, of humiliation and spiritual
rebirth,'' said Pope Benedict. He also noted that the patriarch and
his bishops ''have personally undergone these contrasting experiences
in their own families and lives''. The pope praised Karekin II for
reconstructing the Armenian Church ''with significant pastoral results
over a short time, in Armenia and abroad, for the Christian education
of the young, the formation of a new clergy, the construction of new
churches and community centres, charitable aid and the promotion of
Christian values in social and cultural life''. ''The restoration of
the freedom of the Church in Armenia has been a source of great joy
for us,'' Benedict said. On Thursday Karekin visited the basilica of
St Bartholomew - one of the first preachers who came to Armenia -
where the saint is buried on Rome's Isola Tiberina. The small former
Soviet republic of Armenia is one of the oldest Christian nations in
the world, having adopted Christianity in 301 AD, and is surrounded by
predominantly Muslim nations. The elected patriarch, or Catholicos, is
head of all the Armenian communities throughout the world and has his
seat at at Etchmiadzin.


Pope Recalls Armenian 'Martyrdom'
AFP

Pope Benedict XVI on Friday recalled the "martyrdom" of the Armenian
Apostolic Church during a visit by its leader Garegin II, avoiding the
word "genocide" pronounced several times by his predecessor John Paul
II.

Garegin II, on the fourth and final day of a visit to the Vatican, had
on Wednesday urged "all nations to universally denounce the Armenian
genocide" in a speech to some 20,000 people gathered in St Peter's
Square.

On Friday, however, the pope said: "The recent history of the Armenian
Apostolic Church has been written in the contrasting colors of
persecution and martyrdom, darkness and hope, humiliation and spiritual
rebirth. "The restoration of freedom to the Church in Armenia has been a
source of great joy for us all," the 81-year-old pontiff added.

In November 2000, a meeting at the Vatican between John Paul II and
Garegin II ended with a joint statement condemning the Armenian
genocide.

The following year, at Garegin II's invitation, the Polish pope traveled
to Armenia where the two religious leaders again spoke of "the
extermination of one-and-a-half million Armenian Christians in what is
generally called the first genocide of the 20th century." John Paul II
also spoke of the "annihilation of thousands of people that followed
under the former totalitarian regime," referring to Soviet-era religious
persecution.

On Friday, Garegin II invited Benedict XVI to visit Armenia both in his
own name and on behalf of new President Serzh Sarkisian. The two
religious leaders had private talks after the pope led an ecumenical
celebration in the Apostolic Palace's imposing Clementine Hall.

The Armenian Apostolic Church, one of the world's oldest independent
churches, numbers some seven million adherents of whom more than two
million live in present-day Armenia.

AT VATICAN, ARMENIAN SPIRITUAL LEADER DECRIES GENOCIDE DENIAL
Ecumenical News International
May 14 2008
Switzerland

Rome (ENI). Catholicos Karekin II of the Armenian Apostolic Church,
visiting Pope Benedict XVI in Rome, has spoken of the "genocide"
suffered by his compatriots in the Ottoman empire, and said that those
with power should ensure that justice prevails. "We ... appeal to
all nations and lands to universally condemn all genocides that have
occurred throughout history and those that continue through the present
day," Karekin said in St Peter's Square on 7 May, where he had been
invited by Pope Benedict to speak at the pontiff's general audience.

"The denial of these crimes is an injustice that equals the commission
of the same," noted Karekin, who holds the title of "Supreme Patriarch
and Catholicos of All Armenians".

Armenia says 1.5 million of its people died between 1915 and 1923
in a systematic genocide initiated by the Young Turks' government
ruling then in Istanbul. Turkey, however, rejects the term "Armenian
genocide" and says mass removals were intended to clear people from a
war zone. It acknowledges that people died, but holds that the number
was far less than that given by Armenia.

Karekin was accompanied by Armenian bishops from North and South
America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East for his 5-12 May visit to
Rome, which followed an earlier visit to the Vatican in 2000, when
he met Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

"Today many countries of the world condemn the genocide made by the
Ottomans against the Armenian people, as John Paul II said when I
was in Rome," noted Karekin, who received Pope John Paul in Armenia
in 2001.

Two days after Karekin spoke at St Peter's Square, Pope Benedict
received the Armenian delegation at the Vatican. At the meeting,
Benedict said, "The recent history of the Armenian Apostolic Church has
been written in the contrasting colours of persecution and martyrdom,
darkness and hope, humiliation and spiritual re-birth."

Still, noted the Agence France-Press in a report, Pope Benedict did
not employ the word "genocide" that had been used by his predecessor.

The Pope and the Catholicos underlined the achievements of the
Armenian-Catholic ecumenical dialogue during the past 12 years to
seek greater Christian unity.

Karekin II invited the pontiff to visit Armenia, and expressed the
hope that the international community would support the right to
self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-populated region
situated in neighbouring Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliev, suggested earlier during
2008 that his country could use force to regain control over
Nagorno-Karabakh. The area has been under ethnic Armenian control
since a 1994 cease-fire ended a six-year war.


CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS CONCLUDES HIS VISIT TO VATICAN
Noyan Tapan
May 13, 2008

VENICE, MAY 14, NOYAN TAPAN. Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of
Armenians Karekin II on May 13 concluded his 4-day visit to the head
of the Roman Catholic Church Benedict XVI and returned to the Mother
See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

During the visit, on the morning of May 7 Karekin II went to the tomb
of Pope John Paul II and prayed for the peace of his soul. Then His
Holiness went to St. Gregory the Illuminator Square in St. Peter's
yard where a statue of St. Gregory the Illuminator was set up in the
days of Pope John Paul II.

Then a meeting presided by Pope Benedict XVI and Catholicos of All
Armenians Karekin II took place in St. Peter's Square. They addressed
their words of welcome to more than 35 thousand faithful who had
gathered in the square.

On the same day Catholicos of All Armenians went to the Pontifical
Salesian University where he delivered a lecture. His Holiness received
a doctorate in recognition of his activities in the "theology of
youth pastoral care".

The ceremony was attended by the Vatican's Secretary of State Cardinal
Tarcisio Bertone and the head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting
Christian Unity Cardinal Walter Kasper.

On May 8 Karekin II accompanied by the prefect of the Vatican's
Congregation of Eastern Churches Cardinal Leonardo Sandri went to the
Pontifical Oriental Institute and conveyed his blessing and greetings
to the participants of the congress on "holy sacrifice in the Armenian
tradition". Armenian and Catholic scientists from Europe and North
America made speeches at the congress organized by efforts of Father
Robert Tafti.

Early on May 9, the Armenian delegation went to the Vatican Apostolic
Palace to participate in the meeting of Catholicos of All Armenians
Karekin II and Pope Benedict XVI. During the meeting, the two leaders
spoke about close links and cooperation between the Armenian Apostolic
Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Then the two church leaders
presided over a short prayer.

At the end of the meeting, Karekin II and Benedict XVI had a private
talk to discuss a number of problems of importance to both churches.

At noon of the same day, Catholicos of All Armenians met with the
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams in the Vatican's hotel. During
the meeting, Supreme Patriarch and the Archbishop of Canterbury spoke
about the upcoming Lambeth conference of the Anglican Church and the
relations between the sister churches.

At the conclusion of the visit, a ceremony of ecumenical prayer took
place at the tomb of Apostle Paul. Bishops and clergymen of the Roman
Catholic Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church took part in the
prayer presided over by Catholicos of All Armenians.

Accordng to the infomation service of the Mother See of Holy
Etchmiadzin, during the official visit, Karekin II and the Armenian
delegation visited Armenian and Catholic churches and sacred places.

Early May 10 Catholicos of All Armenians accompanied by high-ranking
clergymen left for Milan where His Holiness met with the Armenian
community.

On May 11-12 Catholicos of All Armenians was in Venice, in the island
of San Lazzaro where a meeting with the Mechitarist Congregation
was held.