Catholic News Agency, CO
Feb. 26, 2008

Vatican’s Secretary of State to visit Armenia and Azerbaijan

Vatican City, Feb 26, 2008 / 10:58 am (CNA).- Today the Holy See
Press Office announced that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone will visit
Armenia and Azerbaijan to meet with the government authorities and
`to express the closeness of the Holy Father Benedict XVI to the
Catholic faithful in those countries.

The Vatican’s Secretary of State will first visit Armenia from March
2 to 6. "Cardinal Bertone will be received by His Holiness Karekin
II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, to whom he
will give a letter from Pope Benedict XVI. In the letter, the Holy
Father expresses his regards and his desire for the Catholic Church
to continue its ecumenical journey alongside the Armenian Apostolic
Church.’

Following his visit to Armenia, Cardinal Bertone will visit
Azerbaijan on March 6 to 9 `where he will meet Sheikh Allashukur
Pashazade, head of Muslims in the Caucasus, and other religious
leaders, to tell them of the Catholic Church’s desire to collaborate
in the joint commitment to peace, harmony between peoples and the
good of the human family.’

In Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital city, `Cardinal Bertone will attend the
inauguration of a new Catholic church built on land donated to
Servant of God John Paul II by President Heydar Aliyev, father of the
current head of State.’