Catholic Online, CA
May 7 2008
Communion between Armenians and Catholics?
5/7/2008
Zenit News Agency ()
The two Churches both Seek Unity After a Split in 451 A.D. 90% of
Armenian Christians are under the Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate,
which separated from Rome after the Council of Chalcedon in 451.
VATICAN CITY (Zenit) – Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, is
responding to an invitation from Benedict XVI to visit him in the
Vatican.
The Pope’s secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, visited
Armenia last March and was received by Karekin II. The Vatican
official presented a handwritten letter from the Holy Father, inviting
the Patriarch to the Vatican.
Karekin II, elected as the 132nd Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of
all Armenians in October 1999, arrived in Rome today and will
participated in events through Sunday.
According to a communiqué released by the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity, the patriarch will be accompanied by 18
bishops of the Catholicosate of all Armenians and by a group of 75
Armenian Apostolic faithful.
On Wednesday, the patriarch will pray at the tomb of St. Peter and
visit the statue of St. Gregory the Illuminator, patron saint of
Armenia, which is located in the north patio of the Vatican Basilica.
The Pontiff will welcome him at the beginning of the general audience
in St. Peter’s Square. In the afternoon, the Catholicos is to receive
an honorary doctorate in the theology of pastoral care of youth from
the Pontifical Salesian University.
On Thursday, the Patriarch will visit the Pontifical Armenian College
and, during the afternoon, participate in an academic congress being
held at the Pontifical Oriental Institute on "holy sacrifice in the
Armenian tradition."
Friday morning, Karekin II and his entourage will visit the offices of
the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, after which
Benedict XVI will receive the Catholicos in the Vatican Apostolic
Palace.
Following a private meeting between the two, the Pope will also
receive the bishops accompanying the Patriarch. A celebration of the
word of God is due to take place, jointly presided by the Pope and
Karekin II, at which the Armenian Apostolic faithful of the
Patriarch’s entourage will also participate.
On Sunday evening, the Catholicos and his entourage will participate
in the celebration of Vespers at the papal basilica of St. Paul
Outside the Walls, the final event of the Patriarch’s visit to Rome.
In November 2000, scarcely a year after his election, Karekin II
visited Pope John Paul II.
During that visit, the Pope and the Patriarch presided at a Liturgy of
the Word in the Vatican Basilica during which John Paul II gave the
Catholicos a relic of St. Gregory the Illuminator, which had been
conserved for many years at the Convent of St. Gregory the Armenian in
Naples, Italy.
In September 2001, John Paul II made a visit to Armenia and to the See
of Etchmiadzin where the Catholicos resides. The Patriarch also came
to Rome for the Polish Pontiff’s funeral on April 8, 2005.
The communiqué concluded by explaining that, on the occasions of the
various meetings between Bishops of Rome and the Catholicos of the
Armenian Apostolic Church, joint declarations have been signed on
questions of great ecumenical importance in the historical,
theological and pastoral fields.
More than 90% of Armenian Christians are under the Armenian Apostolic
Patriarchate, which separated from Rome after the Council of Chalcedon
in 451. A key step toward overcoming this division was taken in 1996
when Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Karekin I signed a joint
declaration on the nature of Jesus.
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