While catholic Pope renews appeal for peace in Syria However protestant UK and USA push for war

April 16, 2018 By administrator

pope for peace in Syria

Pope Francis called on world leaders on Sunday to renew efforts to bring peace to Syria, saying he was deeply troubled by their failure to agree on a joint plan to end the bloodshed, Reuters reports.

“I appeal again to all the political leaders, so that justice and peace prevail,” he said in his weekly address to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

“I am deeply disturbed by the current world situation, in which, despite the tools available to the international community, it is difficult to agree on a common action in favor of peace in Syria and other regions of the world,” he said.

Last Sunday, the pope denounced a reported gas attack in Syria as an unjustifiable use of “instruments of extermination”.

The United States, France and Britain fired dozens of missiles early Saturday to strike at Syria’s chemical weapons program — the biggest intervention yet by Western countries against Syria, which is backed by Russia and Iran.

Vatican: Pope Francis blesses statue of St Gregory of Narek

April 5, 2018 By administrator

St Gregory of Narek

Pope Francis has blessed a statue of St Gregory of Narek in the Vatican Gardens.

In the company of outgoing Armenian President, Serzh Sargsyan, and with the participation of two Patriarchs of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and the Patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church, Pope Francis presided over the inauguration and blessing of the statue of St Gregory of Narek in the Vatican Gardens, Vatican Radio reported.

During the Pope Francis’ visit to Armenia in June 2016, the Pope was given a small statue of St. Gregory of Narek, a gift from Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan. He expressed hope that once the bigger statue will be installed at the Vatican gardens.

The two-meter tall statue was created by sculptor Davit Yerevantsi.

On February 23, 2015, Pope Francis declared St Gregory of Narek a Doctor of the Church.

St. Gregory of Narek statue to be unveiled in the Vatican next week

March 30, 2018 By administrator

Saint Gregory of Narek

The official inaugural ceremony of the bronze statue of Saint Gregory of Narek, a 10th century prominent Armenian poet, monk, philosopher and theologian, will be held in the Vatican on April 5, La Stampa reports.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, and Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, will arrive in the Vatican to take part in the inauguration ceremony, to be followed by a meeting between Pope Francis and the Armenian religious leaders.

The works of erecting the statue of St. Gregory of Narek in the Vatican Gardens completed two days ago. The 2-meter-tall bronze statue was made in the Czech Republic.

During the 2016 visit of His Holiness Pope Francis to Armenia, President Serzh Sargsyan presented him a bronze statuette of the Saint Gregory of Narek as a symbolic meaning for the visit of Pope Francis to the first Christian Nation. While presenting the souvenir, President Sargsyan wished to see the original statue in Vatican in the future that was approved by the Pope.

The Pope declared St. Gregory of Narek as a Doctor of the Universal Church in Feb. 2015 during the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

يجري البابا فرنسيس ابتداء من الجمعة زيارة إلى أرمينيا مواضيع عامه

March 16, 2018 By administrator

يجري البابا فرنسيس ابتداء من الجمعة زيارة إلى أرمينيا التي تعتبر أول بلد اعتنق المسيحية في مستهل القرن الرابع.

والمنطقة التي تضم أرمينيا الحالية أرض توراتية وصلت إليها سفينة نوح كما يقول سفر التكوين في الكتاب المقدس واستقرت على جبل أرارات الموجود في تركيا اليوم.

وتعتبر أرمينيا الأمة الأولى في العالم التي تعتنق المسيحية دينا للدولة في مستهل القرن الرابع.

ويعرف التقليد المسيحي الأرمني أيضا باسم “الغريغورية” تيمنا بعريغوار المستنير، القديس الشفيع ومؤسس الكنيسة الأرمنية، وهو الذي حملت جهوده أرمينيا التي كانت بلدا وثنيا على اعتناق المسيحية في 301، أيام حكم الملك تريداته الرابع.

وتؤكد الكنيسة أن الرسولين برتلماوس وتداوس كانا أول من بشر في أرمينيا خلال القرن الأول، وهذا مرد لقب “الكنيسة الرسولية الأرمنية”.

وقد ترجم القديس ميسروب الكتاب المقدس بعهديه القديم والجديد إلى الأرمنية في القرن الخامس، وهو الذي ابتكر أيضا الأبجدية الأرمنية.

ويؤكد إحصاء 2011 أن حوالي 96% من الناس يقولون إنهم ينتمون إلى الكنيسة الرسولية الأرمنية.

وتشدد الكنيسة الارمنية التي توصف عادة بالأورثوذكسية على أنها ليست جزءا من التيار الشرقي الذي يضم الكنيسة الأرثوذوكسية الروسية والكنائس اليونانية.

وكرسي اتشميادزين المقدس، قرب يريفان، هو المقر الروحي والإداري للكنيسة الأرمنية، ومقر البطريرك الـ 132 كراكين الثاني، الرئيس الحالي للكنيسة الأرمنية.

وانتخب المجلس الأعلى للكنيسة المؤلف من رجال دين وعلمانيين كراكين الثاني (64 عاما) في أكتوبر 1999.

وينتمي حوالى 7 ملايين أرمني في العالم أجمع إلى عدد كبير من الكنائس الأرمنية في الشتات والتي تعترف بأسبقية كنيسة اتشميادزين، والفروع الأساسية موجودة في لبنان والقدس وإسطنبول.

وفي 23 أبريل 2015، رفعت الكنيسة الأرمنية إلى مصاف القديسين، 1.5 مليون أرمني قتلهم الأتراك العثمانيون في الحرب العالمية الأولى، واعتبر الاحتفال أكبر احتفال لإعلان القداسة في التاريخ.

ومنذ عقود، يسعى الأرمن إلى حمل المجموعة الدولية على الاعتراف بأن مجازر 1915-1917 كانت إبادة، لكن تركيا ترفض هذا التعبير، وتؤكد أنها مأساة جماعية لقي خلالها العدد نفسه من الأتراك والأرمن مصرعهم.

ويتضمن البرنامج الرسمي للزيارة البابوية زيارة إلى نصب تسيتسرنامابرد المشيد تكريما لضحايا الإبادة.

وقد تأسست الكنيسة الارمنية الكاثوليكية في 1740 بدعم من البابا بنديكتوس الرابع عشر. وتتخذ من غومري، ثاني اكبر مدينة في البلاد، مركزها الروحي.

وخلال رحلته الى ارمينيا، سيحتفل البابا فرنسيس بقداس في الهواء الطلق بساحة غومري، ويزور كاتدرائيتين كاثوليكيتين.

#Erdogan said he is meeting with Pope @Pontifex as representative of 1.7 billion Muslims worldwide,

February 5, 2018 By administrator

Due to Erdogan’s visit, extraordinary security measures were taken in the city

3,500 law enforcement agencies and NBCR teams who are experts against nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological hazards also served.

While “green zone” was declared in the city, demonstrations were not allowed in the regions where Erdogan was in contact.

Police officials said that these measures taken to protect Erdogan and his delegation

President Erdogan criticized the Pope in his speech in Istanbul on March 26, 2017, before the April 16 referendum.

Erdogan gave the Pope a gift from Iznik

Erdogan gave the Pope the Italian and English prints of the Mesnevi and the miniature Iznik tribe who depicted the old Istanbul in 24 pieces. The Pope presented Erdogan with a statement expressing a medal of peace, anguish over the evil, “This medallion represents a world based on peace and fairness”.

#Erdogan suggests he is meeting with Pope @Pontifex as representative of 1.7 billion Muslims worldwide, recalls #Turkey‘s term presidency of OIC, says US is isolated on #Jerusalem issue.

“These are not honest. Now the members of the European Union came together in the Vatican. These developments evoke something; no, why did you come together in the Vatican, why did you come together in the presence of the Pope. Since when has the Pope been a member of the European Union? The Crusader alliance showed up at last. What did they tell us so far? ‘You are saying this to us, but there is not such a thing’. Yes, because you do not let Muslim Turkey. I have spoken to them, see you tomorrow. “

Erdogan meet Pope in Vatican which he called the Head of the Crusaders

February 5, 2018 By administrator

Erdogan selling Islamic State to POPE

The Turkish president has found common ground with the Vatican on the status of Jerusalem after the US recognized the city as Israel’s capital. But Kurdish groups and a far-right party have criticized the visit.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Pope Francis on Monday, the first Vatican visit by a Turkish head of state since 1959.

Despite previous clashes, the two leaders found common ground on Jerusalem after the US unilaterally recognized the city as the capital of Israel.

“The status of Jerusalem is a central issue for both Muslims and Christians; both the pope and myself are committed to protecting the status quo,” said Erdogan in an interview published by Italian newspaper La Stampa on Sunday.

“No nation in the world has a right to take unilateral steps on a city which is dear to billions of people, ignoring international laws.”

Pope Francis and Erdogan were also expected to discuss terrorism, the migration crisis and Syria, where Turkey last month launched an offensive against Kurdish forces in Afrin near the Turkish border.

Top Armenian Catholic cleric met Pope Francis in Chile

January 30, 2018 By administrator

Monsignor Vartan W. Boghossian, Bishop of the Eparchy of Saint Gregory of Narek of Buenos-Aires and Apostolic Bishop for Latin America, met Pope Francis in Chile during the latter’s visit to the North American country in mid-January, Diario Armenia reports.

In Chile, Mgr Boghossian managed to arrange for some of the Armenian faithful to attend venues where the pontiff delivered remarks. Several of them even managed to wave the Armenian flag on television and express their joy and appreciation for the pope’s visit.

Pope Francis served a Holy Mass for the victims of the Armenian Genocide in St. Peter’s Basilica in 2015 and visited Armenia the next year.

Mgr Boghossian, who also serves as the Bishop of Chile for Catholic Armenians, managed to meet Francis and bring him the greeting and gratitude of the Armenian Community of Chile, receiving his blessing in return.

Before returning to Buenos Aires, the Catholic Armenian leader participated in the meetings of Pope Francis with the youth of Chile, the priests, deacons, clergy members and seminarians at the Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral.

Pope Francis has arrived in Chile on January 16. The highlight of Francis’ visit was an open-air Mass in the capital Santiago. The Pope also met victims of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.

Over a million attend final Mass in Peru as Pope Francis ends Latin American visit

January 22, 2018 By administrator

The pontiff touched on “the globalization of indifference” before he left to return to Rome. The Mass marked a positive end to a six-day trip to Latin America that saw controversy over clergy abuse.

Over a million people flocked to a Peruvian airbase outside Lima on Sunday to attend the final Mass held by Pope Francis before he returned home to Rome.

The event marked the end of the pontiff’s sixth trip to Latin America that also included a controversial stop in neighboring Chile.

The 81-year-old pontiff called on followers, some of whom had waited more than 24 hours at the airbase, to defeat “the globalization of indifference” and help those in need.

Criticizing graft

The pope earlier criticized environmental degradation and endemic corruption in Peru and the rest of Latin America, mentioning graft probes against former Peruvian presidents Ollanta Humala, Alejandro Toledo and Alan Garcia.

“What is happening in Peru, where every president is jailed?” he was quoted as asking by daily La Republica. “If we fall into the hands of people who only understand the language of corruption, we’re toast.”

Pope Francis also mentioned the case against former president Alberto Fujimori, who current President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski pardoned in December half-way through a 25-year jail sentence for corruption.

Shadow of Chile

The pope arrived in Peru on Thursday after a three-day visit in Chile that saw protests over sexual abuse cases by clergy and his dismissal of abuse-related allegations against Chilean Bishop Juan Barros.

Barros allegedly protected his former mentor, the Reverend Fernando Karadima, who stood down after an internal Vatican investigation found him guilty in 2011 of abusing teenage boys. Barros denied any knowledge of Karadima’s actions.

Pope Francis said there was no proof for the accusations and called them “slander.” The Archbishop of Boston and a top Vatican advisor on clergy abuse, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, said the pope’s words were “a great source of pain for survivors of sexual abuse.”

Several churches were set on fire during Pope Francis’ trip in Chile, and police fired tear gas at protesters outside a Mass in the capital, Santiago.

Erdogan in image Cleaning Toure, will meeting Pope a Gateway to reconciliation with Armenia? – REGNUM

January 17, 2018 By administrator

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may use his upcoming meeting with Pope Francis as an opportunity to normalize his country’s relations with Armenia, according to an analyst of the regional news agency REGNUM.

“Erdogan is likely to ask the Pope for assistance in his the efforts towards seeking reconciliation with Armenia. That may help improve his image on the international arena, smoothing out certain problems in the Armenia-Turkey relations,” Stanislav Stramedlovsky says in a recent editorial.

He describes the Pope as “the suitable candidate” to act as a mediator in resolving the Turkish-Armenian conflict, citing the Armenian authorities’ high degree of trust in the Holy See and the Vatican authorities’ neutral stance on Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).

Erdogan’s trip, scheduled on February 5, will be the first visit to the Vatican City by a Turkish leader in the past 59 years.

Egypt’s Coptic pope shuns US VP Mike Pence over Jerusalem

December 10, 2017 By administrator

The Coptic pope’s decision comes a day after Egypt’s top Muslim cleric Ahmed al-Tayeb (L) also refused to meet Pence

The Coptic Christian pope has canceled a meeting with the US vice president in Cairo, in protest against America’s move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Palestinian leader Abbas also snubbed Mike Pence.

In a statement released on Saturday, the Coptic Church said it “excused itself from hosting Mike Pence” when he visits Egypt, citing US President Donald Trump’s decision made “at an unsuitable time and without consideration for the feelings of millions of people.”

Egypt’s Coptic Church said it would pray for “wisdom and to address all issues that impact peace for the people of the Middle East.”

The decision comes a day after Egypt’s top Muslim cleric Ahmed al-Tayeb also refused to meet Pence.

Egyptian Coptic Christians, the largest religious minority in the region, make up about 10 percent of the country’s 93 million people.

Solidarity from non-Muslim Arabs

The Coptic Pope’s refusal to host Pence is largely symbolic but significant, because it demonstrates the Arab solidarity for Palestinians irrespective of religious affiliations.

Trump’s decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem has not only been criticized by Muslim countries; Germany, China and Russia are among scores of nations that have slammed the US president over the policy U-turn.

The status of Jerusalem was a key stumbling block during previous peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, in particular the question of how to divide sovereignty and oversee holy sites.