Tweet
POPE MEETS SARKISIAN, HAILS 'GOOD RELATIONS' WITH ARMENIA
Armenialiberty.org
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/24419775.html
Dec 12 2011
Pope Benedict XVI met with President Serzh Sarkisian on Monday
to discuss ways of deepening what the Vatican described as "good
relations" existing between the Roman Catholic Church and Armenia.
Sarkisian also had a separate meeting at the Vatican with Secretary
of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and visited the Armenian Catholic
church of St. Nicholas in Rome during a working trip to Italy and
the Holy See.
"In the course of the cordial discussions, and having expressed great
pleasure at the good relations that exist between the Holy See and
the Republic of Armenia, the parties exchanged views on the role
that the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholic Church play in
society, and the contribution they both make to the common good,"
the official Vatican Information Service said in a statement.
Italy - Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian visits the Armenian
Catholic church of St. Nicholas in Rome, 12Dec2011.xItaly - Armenian
President Serzh Sarkisian visits the Armenian Catholic church of St.
Nicholas in Rome, 12Dec2011.
"Attention also turned to the importance of the country's Christian
heritage, and of the commitment to educating the new generations in
fundamental values," read the statement.
Sarkisian's press office, for its part, said the president and the
pope discussed "the large role in the society" played by the two
churches. "They stressed the importance of bringing up generations
in the spirit of Christian values," it said in a statement.
The statement added that Sarkisian and Bertone agreed on "the need
to deepen bilateral high-level relations." It quoted the Armenian
leader as thanking the Vatican for "preserving Armenian cultural
heritage abroad."
There was no word on the 84-year-old pontiff's response to an official
invitation to visit Armenia that was extended to him by Sarkisian
and Catholicos Garegin II, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic
Church, in 2008.
Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, visited Armenia in 2001, paying
tribute to "the glorious history of Christianity" in a country that
was the first to adopt it as a state religion in 301. He also signed a
joint declaration with Garegin that referred to the World War One-ear
mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as "the first genocide
of the 20th century."
Unlike John Paul, Benedict has refrained from using the word genocide
with respect to the deaths of some 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians.
Receiving Garegin in the Vatican in 2008, he spoke instead of the
"martyrdom" of the Armenian Church, one of the oldest in the world.
Incidentally, the pontiff, previously known as Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger of Germany, chose the name of Pope Benedict XV who famously
raised his voice in 1915 in defense of "the sorely afflicted Armenian
people brought to the brink of annihilation" in Ottoman Turkey. John
Paul presented the Armenian Genocide Museum in Yerevan with a picture
of Benedict XV when he visited the adjacent memorial to the massacre
victims in September 2001.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Armenialiberty.org
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/24419775.html
Dec 12 2011
Pope Benedict XVI met with President Serzh Sarkisian on Monday
to discuss ways of deepening what the Vatican described as "good
relations" existing between the Roman Catholic Church and Armenia.
Sarkisian also had a separate meeting at the Vatican with Secretary
of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and visited the Armenian Catholic
church of St. Nicholas in Rome during a working trip to Italy and
the Holy See.
"In the course of the cordial discussions, and having expressed great
pleasure at the good relations that exist between the Holy See and
the Republic of Armenia, the parties exchanged views on the role
that the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholic Church play in
society, and the contribution they both make to the common good,"
the official Vatican Information Service said in a statement.
Italy - Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian visits the Armenian
Catholic church of St. Nicholas in Rome, 12Dec2011.xItaly - Armenian
President Serzh Sarkisian visits the Armenian Catholic church of St.
Nicholas in Rome, 12Dec2011.
"Attention also turned to the importance of the country's Christian
heritage, and of the commitment to educating the new generations in
fundamental values," read the statement.
Sarkisian's press office, for its part, said the president and the
pope discussed "the large role in the society" played by the two
churches. "They stressed the importance of bringing up generations
in the spirit of Christian values," it said in a statement.
The statement added that Sarkisian and Bertone agreed on "the need
to deepen bilateral high-level relations." It quoted the Armenian
leader as thanking the Vatican for "preserving Armenian cultural
heritage abroad."
There was no word on the 84-year-old pontiff's response to an official
invitation to visit Armenia that was extended to him by Sarkisian
and Catholicos Garegin II, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic
Church, in 2008.
Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, visited Armenia in 2001, paying
tribute to "the glorious history of Christianity" in a country that
was the first to adopt it as a state religion in 301. He also signed a
joint declaration with Garegin that referred to the World War One-ear
mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as "the first genocide
of the 20th century."
Unlike John Paul, Benedict has refrained from using the word genocide
with respect to the deaths of some 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians.
Receiving Garegin in the Vatican in 2008, he spoke instead of the
"martyrdom" of the Armenian Church, one of the oldest in the world.
Incidentally, the pontiff, previously known as Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger of Germany, chose the name of Pope Benedict XV who famously
raised his voice in 1915 in defense of "the sorely afflicted Armenian
people brought to the brink of annihilation" in Ottoman Turkey. John
Paul presented the Armenian Genocide Museum in Yerevan with a picture
of Benedict XV when he visited the adjacent memorial to the massacre
victims in September 2001.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress