KUWAIT: Aram I, the Chatolicos of the Armenian Church speaks to reporters. – Photos by Joseph Shagra

KUWAIT: Aram I, the Chatolicos of the Armenian Church speaks to reporters. – Photos by Joseph Shagra KUWAIT: Aram I, the Chatolicos of the Armenian Church is on a brief visit to Kuwait to dedicate and consecrate their house of worship in Salwa. The Chatolicos spoke with local reporters yesterday at the Sheraton Hotel where he thanked His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for the warm reception and welcome accorded to his entourage.

He said that he briefly met with His Highness the Amir and thanked him for the privilege to personally extend greetings of the Armenian church to Kuwait. He also lauded him for the religious tolerance in the country. "I came to Kuwait to consecrate the church of Armenia in Kuwait. According to tradition, it is the building where we hold our praise and worship in the house of God and so we it must be consecrated. That is the purpose of my visit. But my visit has several programs and activities including meeting HH the Amir. I visited the Amir six years ago. The people of Kuwait must be proud of their leader, because HH the Amir is a man of time. He is a man of intelligence, wisdom and courage and more importantly a man of tolerance," he said. "In a world which is becoming more of a global village, we must live together, it is not a question of choice, but it is a must. We are all brothers and must live together. I am happy that we are all witnessing that here in Kuwait. We are all living in this beautiful country with mutual respect. That is all we need, to live in harmony with each other, we must understand and accept each other," he said. Asked by Kuwait Times whether the Armenian Church in Kuwait has been experiencing the same problem with other Christian communities like the shortage of the house of worship, he said, "I cannot speak on behalf of other Christian communities in Kuwait. I meet them several times, but there is one thing in common I heard from everyone, that they are extremely grateful for HH the Amir for the kind of religious tolerance they have been experiencing here in this country. As for the Armenian Church, we have enough space. We are thankful because through Armenian churches and schools here, we can educate our people. We are just thankful for everything." By Ben Garcia, Staff WriterAll rights reserved.