PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: cathcil@cathcil.org
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

&quo t;THE PREVAILING VIOLENCE DESTROYS THE INNOCENCE OF CHILDREN
AND BURNS IN THEIR HEART HATRED"
Stated His Holiness Aram I

Today His Holiness Aram I received a five-member ecumenical delegation
composed of the representatives of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the
Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference
of France. His Holiness also received later today the visit of Cardinal
Thedore McCarrick, the Archbishop of Washington, DC. They had come to
Lebanon to express ecumenical solidarity with the churches and people
affected by the current conflict in the Middle East.

His Holiness called the failure of the international community to stop the
violence in Lebanon immoral. He said: "Innocent people are killed, families
are destroyed, and the international community is not able to stop the war
and give time and space for political settlement of the conflict".
Catholicos Aram I expressed his belief that the draft resolution to be
proposed to the Security Council, because "vaguely-worded and loaded with
diplomatic ambiguities", will fail and will once more undermine the
effectiveness and credibility of the United Nations. One-third of victims of
the conflict being children, His Holiness expressed his fear that the
children of Lebanon would be the biggest casualty of the violence: "What
chance, he asked, do we have of preparing our vulnerable and dependent
children to built a culture of harmony and cooperation when present horrors
destroy their innocence and burns in their hearts intolerance and hatred".

Addressing to the delegations, Catholicos Aram I said: "You have come to
listen us and to pray with us. When you go back to your churches, ecumenical
organizations and to your countries you must speak out and you must act.
Listening implies witnessing, and praying calls for committed engagement".

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View photos here:
es90.htm

ctures91.htm

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The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.