Tears And Prayers In Armenian Catholic Orphanage

Agence France Press
April 8, 2005

Tears and prayers filled an orphanage in northern Armenia on Friday
as nuns and children watched the funeral of Pope John Paul II, who
helped build the home after a 1988 earthquake.

“Right now we are with 60 orphans of the orphanage and we are
watching the pope’s funeral with tears in our eyes,” Sister Arusiak,
the director of the “Mother of God – Armenia” Catholic center in the
northern town of Gyumri, told AFP by telephone.

“We prayed for the peace of the pope’s soul. It is a great loss for
all the Catholics in the whole world. He was an exceptional spiritual
leader with his humanism and courage,” she said.

According to the Catholic Church some 150,000 Catholics live in
Armenia, whose 3.2 million population belongs mainly to the Orthodox
Armenian Apostolic Church.

Pope John Paul II visited Armenia’s capital Yerevan in 2001 to
celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of Christianity in the country —
the first to adopt Christianity as the official religion. Catholicos
Garegin II, the spiritual leader of the Apostolic Church, Prime
Minister Andranik Markarian, as well as the head of the Armenian
Catholics, attended John Paul II’s funeral at the Vatican.