Zenit News Agency, Italy
March 7 2008
Statement on Meeting of Armenian Patriarch and Cardinal Bertone
VAGHARSHAPAT, Armenia, MARCH 6, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is the joint
communiqué released on the occasion of the Tuesday meeting between
Karekin II, supreme patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, and
Benedict XVI’s secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who is
visiting Armenia this week.
* * *
His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All
Armenians, and His Eminence Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, Secretary of
State for the Holy See, came together in the Mother Cathedral of Holy
Etchmiadzin with a holy greeting of peace and offered their fervent
prayers to Almighty God in heaven.
The State Secretary, Cardinal Bertone, conveyed the warmest greetings
of unity in Jesus Christ and the fraternal love of His Holiness
Benedict XVI, the Pope of Rome, to His Holiness Karekin II,
Catholicos of All Armenians. Cardinal Bertone also presented a
handwritten letter from the Pope, with his invitation to visit the
See of Peter.
His Holiness and His Eminence offered their gratitude to God for this
cordial meeting — a sign of the continuing development of ties
between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Caholic Church — to
know one another better, to appreciate each other’s incomparable
spiritual heritage, and to love one another, confirming their equal
calling to serve mankind as is required by our one Lord Jesus Christ.
They agreed to continue taking steps on these blessed paths.
The Catholicos and the Cardinal appealed to God during these
difficult days for Armenia, so that peace and reconciliation be
established within the country. They prayed together for the souls of
the victims and asked the Lord to keep and protect the Armenian
people and reinforce them with faith, hope and love.
The Cardinal expressed the complete support of the Catholic Church to
the Armenian Church, for her efforts utilizing her high moral
standing, aimed at providing solutions to all concerns through the
promotion of dialogue and peaceful means and fostering a common sense
of responsibility, so that the dignity of the Armenian people and
state remain unharmed within international society.
His Holiness and His Eminence jointly entreated the Most High to make
statesmen and politicians realize that politics is also a spiritual
calling, which demands honesty, mutual respect, love tolerance and
defence of the rights of the poor and vulnerable.
May God bless Armenia and all Armenians — the first Christian people
in the world — so that all of Christendom can continue to enjoy
their exceptional and irreplaceable contributions.