POPE PRAYS FOR REUNIFICATION OF ARMENIAN CHRISTIANS

Catholic World News
March 20 2006

Vatican, Mar. 20 (CWNews.com) – Pope Benedict XVI (bio – news) voiced
his prayer for the reunification of Armenian Christians, as he met
on March 20 with the Armenian Catholic Patriarch Nerses Bedros XIX
Tarmouni and an accompanying group of pilgrims from Lebanon.

Looking back across the history of Christianity in Armenia, the Pope
noted the divisions among the different churches “that recognize St.

Gregory the Illuminator as their common founding father.” (St.

Gregory established Christianity in Armenian in 301.) He acknowledged
with satisfaction that the different Armenian churches “have resumed
a cordial and fruitful dialogue,” and looked forward to the time when
they might regain “fraternal harmony internally, in full communion
with the Bishop of Rome.”

A tragic history has contributed to the divisions among Armenian
Christians, the Pope observed. He mentioned the Metz Yeghern, or “great
evil,” that saw hundreds of thousands of Armenians slaughtered by
Turkish persecutors during the forced migration from the Mediterranean
to the land now known as Armenia. While the Armenian Apostolic Church
is now established both in that country and in Lebanon, the diaspora
caused the Armenian Catholic community to find a new base in Lebanon.

Today the Armenian Apostolic Church claims about 7 million faithful,
including 2 million in Armenia, another 2.4 million in nearby Russian
and Georgia, and about 500,000 in the Middle East, with the remained
spread across Europe and the Americas. The Armenian Catholic Church
has about 345,000 members, primarily in the Middle East but also
spread worldwide.

During the past 50 years the Armenian Apostolic Church has drawn
closer to the Vatican in ecumenical talks; Pope John Paul II (bio –
news) and the late Catholicos Karekin II, the head of the Armenian
Church, signed a joint statement essentially ending the doctrinal
disputes that caused a split after the Council of Chalcedon in 451.

Pope Benedict observed that it was a “comforting sign of the unity
we hope for” when Pope John Paul joined in celebrating the 1700th
anniversary of the founding of Christianity in Armenia.