VATICAN RECAPS CARDINAL BERTONE’S TRIP

Catholic World News
March 11 2008

Vatican, Mar. 11, 2008 (CWNews.com) – The Vatican press office has
published a summary account of last week’s visit by Cardinal Tarcisio
Bertone (bio – news), the Vatican Secretary of State, to Armenia
and Azerbaijan.

Cardinal Bertone traveled to Armenia on May 4, having postponed the
trip for 2 days because of a political crisis in that country. The
Vatican highlighted his meeting there with Catholicos Karekin II,
the patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

The cardinal brought the Armenian prelate a personal letter from Pope
Benedict XVI (bio – news), in which the Pontiff expressed his hope
for further ecumenical progress with the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Relations between the Holy See and the Armenian Apostolic Church
have been particularly warm in recent years. In 1996, Pope John Paul
II (bio – news) and Catholicos Karekin I (the predecessor of the
current Armenian Church leader) signed a joint theological accord
that virtually ended the theological dispute that caused the split
between the Armenian Church and Rome 1500 years ago. From Armenia,
Cardinal Bertone continued on to Azerbaijan, where he helped to
inaugurate a new Catholic church, noting that it was a sign of
"true religious tolerance" on the part of the country’s Islamic
majority. The cardinal also visited a mosque in Baku, then joined in
a prayer service at the Russian Orthodox cathedral, before concluding
his inter-religious tour with a visit to the city’s synagogue.

On March 9 the cardinal concluded his trip by celebrating Mass at the
new Immaculate Conception church in Baku. The parish church stands
on land that was donated to the country’s tiny Catholic community by
President Heydar Aliyev, father of Azerbaijan’s current president.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress