Armenia: Etchmiadzin prepares surprise gift for Pope Francis

June 23, 2016 By administrator

Pope 44 ETCHMIADZIN. – During his three-day visit to Armenia, Pope Francis will be staying at the Residence of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

Reverend Father Zakaria Baghumyan, Director of the Bishops’ Synod Department of the Mother See, told the aforementioned to NEWS.am, and gave some details on the forthcoming visit by the Bishop of Rome.

“In general, the supreme pontiffs of Rome stay at hotels or elsewhere [during their visits], but starting from 2001, when [Pope] John Paul II visited [Armenia] on the 1700th anniversary of the proclamation of Christianity as a state religion [in Armenia], he likewise stayed at the [Mother See] Residence,” said Fr. Baghumyan. “[And] it was the wish of Pope Francis and the Catholicos of All Armenians to continue this tradition.”

Etchmiadzin will be the first stop during the three-day visit by the Pope. Pilgrims and clergymen will welcome him at the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, where a welcome ceremony will be held.

Subsequently, Pope Francis will head for capital city Yerevan, where he will meet with President Serzh Sargsyan.

After offering a Holy Mass and a prayer for peace the next day in Gyumri and Yerevan, the Bishop of Rome, together with Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, will offer a Holy Mass also in Etchmiadzin, on the third and final day of his visit to Armenia.

In addition, the Pope will hold a private conversation with the Catholicos of All Armenians. Also, the spiritual leaders of the two churches are expected to present gifts to each other.

“The [Armenian Apostolic] Church will present to the Pope of Rome a holy communion chalice, with which we offer Divine Liturgy,” informed Father Zakaria Baghumyan. “These gifts are a sample of love and brotherhood between he two churches.”

Photos by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am

Pope Update: to be greeted at Yerevan airport with apricots and lavash bread

June 22, 2016 By administrator

lavash and apricot YEREVAN. – Pope Francis will be welcomed Friday at Zvartnots International Airport, in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan, with the Armenian lavash bread and apricots, noted Vigen Sargsyan, the Presidential Chief of Staff, at a press conference on Wednesday.

“There are additional elements—a children’s choir, and a presentation of Armenian apricot and lavash by Armenian children, upon arrival—in the protocol to greet the Pope,” said Sargsyan.

More than 600 media outlets, half of them international, already have been accredited to cover the Pope’s visit to the first Christian country.

“Workplaces are created for media representatives,” added the presidential chief of staff. “The events can be followed also via live Armenian TV broadcast.”

A large number of Diaspora Armenians also have arrived to attend the events to be held within the framework of Pope Francis’ visit.

The Bishop of Rome will depart from Armenia on Sunday evening

Pope in Armenia, a country of Christian martyrs

June 22, 2016 By administrator

pope in Armenia Vatican City, June 22, 2016 (AFP) – Pope Francis went from Friday to Sunday in Armenia, a Christian nation among the oldest and most tormented, on the outskirts of a Middle East war.

For the Argentine pontiff, this 14th foreign trip in just over three years will first and foremost a religious dimension, with an encouraging revival of Christianity in a country that has suffered under the yoke of the atheistic Soviet communism.

The Christian tradition is ancient and yet well established: Armenia was the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion in 301 and over 90% of the 3.3 million Armenians belong to the Apostolic Church, separated from Rome since.

Always ready for strong gestures towards a rapprochement with the Eastern Churches, Jorge Bergoglio attend the “Divine Liturgy” of Catholikos Karekin II in the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral.

It must also meet Saturday small Armenian Catholic community in Gyumri city hit by the earthquake of 1988. The political dimension of the trip will be trickier: François is awaited with fervor by a population that was very touched that he spoke publicly it a year ago the Armenian “genocide”, which made up 1.5 million deaths under the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1916.

But Turkey strongly contests this term, ensuring that it was a civil war, coupled with famine, in which hundreds of thousands of Armenians and Turks were killed.

Accompanied by Karekin II, Jorge Bergoglio will visit the memorial of Armenian Tzitzernakaberd, but some observers expect it to avoid pronouncing the word again “genocide” not to throw oil on the fire and create difficulties for Christians in Turkey.

In 2001, John Paul II had visited Armenia for the 1,700th anniversary of the “Baptism of the Armenian people.” In a written statement with Karekin, he denounced “the first genocide of the twentieth century”, is already attracting the wrath of Ankara.

– Colombes to Turkey –

For Armenia, the Polish pope had also appealed for peace in the region, and Francois understood to multiply his gestures in this direction. Thus, a prayer for peace is planned in Yerevan in the presence of tens of thousands of faithful.

At the end of the trip, the Pope will visit the sanctuary of Khor Virap, near Turkey, to release two doves towards Mount Ararat, the highest peak at 5,160 meters was Armenian until 1915 and is now in Turkey.

The Argentine pontiff had the idea to go to the wake in Georgia, another country with ancient Christian roots, and Azerbaijan, a predominantly Muslim republic in conflict with Yerevan on the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

But he had to push both visits and will end in September in Georgia and Azerbaijan, although both trips are “part of the same whole,” insisted Tuesday the spokesman of the Pope, Federico Lombardi.

According to Father Lombardi, the trip was split into two because the Patriarch of Georgia is currently detained at large Orthodox council, which opened Sunday in Crete. According to a good source Armenian however, local churches have blocked a visit after another because of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In Armenia, the theme of martyrdom, persecution of Christian minorities fleeing their homeland in the Middle East, will be a son of drivers. Some of the inhabitants are in fact descendants of Armenians who have suffered massacres and forced deportations, particularly in Russia and Turkey.

And the movement continues today: Yerevan hosted the last months of Syrian Armenian families fleeing Aleppo and other cities affected by the fighting.

The martyrdom as a testimony that strengthens the faith of believers, is a theme loves to evoke Francis. While Karekin II proceeded in 2015 to the massive canonization of martyrs who died during the genocide.

Armenia, the first state in the world to adopt Christianity (BOX)

Yerevan, June 22, 2016 (AFP) – Pope Francis makes starting Friday a visit to Armenia considered the first state to adopt Christianity in the early fourth century. The main points on the deep Christian roots of this small country in the Caucasus.

– First Christian kingdom –

The area comprising the present Armenia is a biblical land where Noah’s ark came as Genesis aground on Mount Ararat in Turkey today. Armenia is considered the first nation in the world to adopt Christianity as state religion in the early fourth century. The Armenian Christian tradition is also known under the name “grégorianisme” according to Gregory the Illuminator, patron saint and CEO of the Armenian Church. It was he who had converted the pagan country in 301, during the reign of King Tiridates IV.

The Church affirms that the Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus were the first to preach in Armenia in the first century, hence the title of Armenian Apostolic Church.

The Bible was translated into Armenian in the fifth century by Saint Mesrop, also creator of the Armenian alphabet.

– The Armenian Church –

According to the 2011 census, nearly 96% of the population claims to the Armenian Apostolic Church. Often defined as Orthodox, the Armenian Church insists that it is not part of the current East which includes the Russian Orthodox Church and the Greek Churches.

It belongs to a group of six Christian Eastern churches who reject the doctrine of the dual nature of Christ and who professes that he has only one: divine and human at the same time. The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, near Yerevan, is the spiritual and administrative headquarters of the Armenian Church and the residence of the 132nd Patriarch Garegin II, current head of it.

Garegin II, 64, was elected in October 1999 by the Supreme Council of the Church, composed of both clergy and laity. Nearly seven million Armenians around the world belong to many Armenian churches in the diaspora who recognize the hierarchical supremacy of Etchmiadzin. The main branches are located in Lebanon, Jerusalem and Istanbul.

– Genocide –

April 23, 2015, the Armenian Church canonized 1.5 million Armenians massacred by the Ottoman Turks during the First World War. The ceremony is considered the largest canonization of history.

Armenians seeking for decades to internationally recognize the 1915-1917 massacres as genocide, but Turkey rejects this term, ensuring that it was a collective tragedy in which many Turks of Armenians perished.

Pope Francis was the first pontiff to publicly use the word genocide in April 2015, provoking the ire of Ankara. The official program of the papal visit includes a visit to Tsitsernakaberd memorial dedicated to the victims of genocide.

– Religious minorities –

More than 35,000 Yazidi live in Armenia, being the largest religious minority in the country. Other minorities are some 14,000 Roman Catholics and Orthodox 8000, mainly Russians, Greeks, Georgians and Ukrainians.

The Catholic Armenian Church was founded in 1740 with the support of Pope Benedict XIV. Its spiritual center is located in the second largest city, Gyumri.

During his trip to Armenia, Pope Francis will hold an outdoor mass in the main square of Gyumri and will visit two Catholic cathedrals.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016,
Stéphane © armenews.com

Pope can allow Armenia study archives – Amatuni Virabyan

June 22, 2016 By administrator

The Pope’s archives contain information on every nation, Amatuni Virabyan, Director of the National Archives of Armenia, told reporters on Wednesday.

The problem is that the archives d not classify a great amount of information and the documents related to the Armenian Genocide contain numerous blank spots.

“We [Armenia] have been in contact with the Pope since the 3^rd-4^th centuries. Bu we are most interested in the documents on the Armenian Genocide. Since the Pope has his diplomats in almost all the countries of the world, including the Ottoman Empire,” Mr Virabyan said.

The Pope’s visit is an opportunity for Armenians to make use of the Pope’s archives.

If the Armenian side applies to the Pope, it will be permitted to use the archives.

“We are now taking steps to make have the issue discussed,” Mr Virabyan said.

Over 600 Journalists Applied to Cover Pope Francis’ Visit to Armenia

June 22, 2016 By administrator

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YEREVAN (Arka)—More than 600 media representatives have applied to be accredited to cover the visit of the Pope to Armenia, Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on its Twitter page.

Pope Francis’ visit to Armenia will commence on June 24 with an official welcoming ceremony at the Zvartnots International Airport in Yerevan before the Pope’s travel to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, where a welcoming service will be offered in the Mother Cathedral.

In the evening, Pope Francis will meet with President Serzh Sarkisian, then with the authorities, community leaders, and representatives of diplomatic missions accredited in Armenia. The first day will conclude with a meeting at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, with His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.

On the morning of June 25, His Holiness Pope Francis will visit Tsitsernakaberd, the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex and Museum in Yerevan. Pope Francis, along with His Holiness Karekin II, will visit the city of Gyumri, where a Divine Liturgy will be offered in Vardanants Square. The Pope will also visit Our Lady of Armenia Convent of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception in Gyumri, then the Seven Wounds Saint Mary Church of the Diocese of Shirak of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church and the Holy Martyrs Armenian Catholic Cathedral. In the evening, an outdoor Ecumenical Service and Peace Prayer will be held in Yerevan – in Republic Square.

On June 26, in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Pope Francis will meet with Armenian Catholic bishops, and then participate in a Divine Liturgy and an Ecumenical dinner, along with His Holiness Karekin II, the Archbishops and Bishops of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, Armenian Catholic Archbishops and Bishops and the Papal delegation. Pope Francis will also meet delegates and benefactors of the Armenian Church. His Holiness Pope Francis and His Holiness Karekin II will sign a joint declaration.

The Spiritual leaders will offer their prayers at the Khor Virap Monastery, following which Pope Francis will depart for Rome..

All for One: Holy Father Seeks Unity, Dangerous Peripheries with Armenia Trip

June 22, 2016 By administrator

Catholicos Kerekin II, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican on May 8, 2014.

NEWS ANALYSIS: With this week’s trip and a second one to neighboring Azerbaijan and Georgia in September, the Pope will visit a Caucasus region that’s considered a dangerous regional flashpoint.

by VICTOR GAETAN

In a season dominated by headlines about violence, anger, and disunity, Pope Francis heads to Armenia for three days, June 24-26, to underscore Christian collaboration and common roots.

It’s not a papal cakewalk though.

Armenia is engaged in a long simmering war with Azerbaijan, a “frozen conflict” that flared again in April. These countries have complex relations with their powerful neighbors, Russia and Turkey, which have had deadly clashes this year too.

On Sunday, Pope Francis will approach the long closed Armenian-Turkish border, symbol of 100-plus years of distrust.

Armenia, with Azerbaijan and Georgia — two countries Francis will visit in September — comprise a region known as the Caucasus, considered a dangerous potential flashpoint by many analysts.

For the Pope, that’s all the more reason to pour out Christ’s love, starting with Armenia, the first country to officially adopt Christianity, in 301 AD, long before the Roman Empire did in 380 AD.

Cathedral, sign a joint statement with Kerekin II, and visit the sacred site, Khor Virap Monastery, where St. Gregory was imprisoned for 14 years by a king he would later convert.

The Holy Father’s itinerary has him flying to another city, Gyumri, to say Mass in a region where more Catholics live, but Catholic Catholicos Gregory Peter XX Ghabroyan, age 81, elected last July is not listed on the most recent Vatican Radio trip schedule.

Following a Saint

As is often the case, Pope Francis is following closely the footsteps of St. John Paul II, who came to Armenia in 2001 to celebrate 1,700 years of Christian history.

St. John Paul opened his trip in the Apostolic Cathedral, participated in a divine liturgy with Catholicos Kerekin II, and honored victims of the genocide by visiting Yerevan’s Tzitzernakaberd Memorial, as Francis will do Saturday morning.

The saint even referred to the first genocide of the twentieth century in a joint written document released with Catholicos Kerekin.

However, Pope Francis was the first pope to say the word “genocide” out loud, at a memorial Mass for Armenian victims last April at St. Peter’s Basilica.

The government of Turkey, which strenuously denies a genocide against Armenia ever occurred, recalled its Ambassador to the Vatican for consultations following the Pope’s Divine Mercy statement on Armenia.

And earlier this month, the German parliament overwhelmingly approved a resolution on the Armenian genocide despite Turkish government warnings that it would harm bilateral relations.

As a result, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recalled Turkey’s Ambassador and some German MPs received protection after receiving death threats.

Turkey’s extreme sensitivity to criticism seems illogical considering the three Ottoman leaders who initiated the massacres were sentenced to death for war crimes and mass murder by a Turkish military tribunal in 1919.

Healing Wounds

Thanking the Pope for his support is one reason massive throngs are expected to greet the Holy Father throughout his pilgrimage.

Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, helped organize St. John Paul II’s pilgrimage to Armenia and has been involved in Pope Francis’ visit since Catholicos Kerekin invited the Pope during a meeting at the Vatican in 2014.

Archbishop Barsamian sees three primary messages being conveyed by Pope Francis’s presence: the beauty of Christian unity, the importance of protecting Christianity in the Middle East, and the right method for healing historic wounds.

“As in 2001 when Pope John Paul II came, signifying our close relationship, this visit brings the churches together,” the Archbishop told the Register. “We have had many years of theological dialogue between the Catholic and Oriental Orthodox Church. Dialogue is more powerful by demonstrating unity. We are the Church of Jesus Christ!”

He continued, “This visit will be important because the Holy Father is visiting one of the ancient Christ churches, surrounded by non-Christian forces. His visit is a sign of support not only for Christian faithful in Armenia but to Christian families in the Middle East, who are suffering so greatly.”

Reflecting on the significance of Pope Francis’ remarks April 12, 2015, during a Solemn Mass for the Centenary of the Armenian Martyrdom, the bishop reminded us that the Pope’s purpose in referring to the genocide was to “recognize the wounds so such things will not happen in other parts of the world today.”

Indeed, the Holy Father memorably exclaimed, “Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it,” at the beginning of the celebration, held on Divine Mercy Sunday last year.

Archbishop Barsamian said he expects big crowds during the visit because Armenians want to “express their gratitude for such a courageous statement” which caused “the entire world to respond.”

A Long-Standing Appreciation

Pope Francis will be plunging into a culture he has appreciated and honored since serving as Auxiliary Bishop in Buenos Aires, according to Archbishop Kissag Mouradian, Primate of the Apostolic Armenian Church of the Republic of Argentina and Chile.

Archbishop Mouradian became friendly with Bishop Jorge Bergoglio, who he remembers as being extremely sympathetic both to the history of Armenian persecution and to the community’s perseverance in faith.

The Argentinian Catholic leader held requiem masses for Armenian martyrs at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Argentina’s capital city and participated in Armenian celebrations. He invited the Apostolic Archbishop to consecrate with him altars to Saints Thaddeus and Bartholomew, apostles who traveled in Armenia, at two Catholic churches.

In 2010, now serving as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Bergoglio placed a traditional Armenian carved cross, a “khackar,” in the cathedral in remembrance of the dead.

According to Syrian-born Archbishop Mouradian, who came to Argentina in 1975, the future pope even said he hoped to be buried under the cathedral’s khackar.

Pope Francis is firm on the importance of recognizing the Armenian genocide to benefit both the Armenian and the Turkish people, His attitude is “Truth is always better than trying to deny or lie,” explained the archbishop to an Armenian news agency.

Since the Pope has this conviction, he is prepared to face reactions such as the Turkish government’s protest last year.

The Armenian people are spread around the world, mainly as a result of the twentieth century’s first genocide, in 1915-1923, when Ottoman leaders initiated a brutal attempt to wipe them out. Some 1.5 million Armenians were murdered and hundreds of thousands were forced out of Anatolia, part of eastern Turkey today.

Religious identity is one of the major explanations for how Armenians have maintained strong cultural continuity, generation after generation, wherever they live.

Some 93% of Armenian people belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church, an Oriental Orthodox Church.

Only about 5% worldwide belong to the Armenian Catholic Church — and 1% of Armenia’s national population according to a 2011 census — in communion with the Holy See since the 18th century, and based in Beirut, Lebanon.

The Armenian Apostolic Church is centered in Holy Etchmiadzin, its spiritual center since the fourth century, a dynamic locus of faith and formation: From there, priests are trained and sent around the world to minister to the diaspora.

St. Gregory the Illuminator, Armenia’s first bishop, founded Etchmiadzin in 305 AD.

Orthodox Itinerary

What’s striking about Pope Francis’ itinerary is the extent to which the Armenian Apostolic Church is hosting him.

Even the official logo for the visit highlights the two churches: the Vatican coat of arms on a field of yellow, and the coat of arms of the Apostolic Church on purple, its traditional color.

The Pope arrives Friday and a half hour later, will be praying at the Apostolic Cathedral with Catholicos Kerekin II. (Armenian heads of church are called “Catholicos,” a word derived from the same Greek root for “Catholic,” or universal.) The day will end with a private meeting between the two leaders.

Together, they are expected to officiate over an ecumenical prayer for peace Saturday evening in Yerevan’s Republic Square.

The next morning, Pope Francis is scheduled to participate in a Divine Liturgy at the Apostolic,

Observed Pope Francis’ old friend, “He was ready to face Turkey. He always told the truth and was in favor of justice. He is very brave and very convinced of his convictions, they will not change for anything. He is firm with justice and truth.”

Tension in the Caucasus

What makes the geo-political atmosphere in the Caucasus particularly tense is the standoff between Russia and Turkey using proxy states, respectively predominantly Christian Armenia and predominantly Muslim Azerbaijan.

Last Nov. 24, the Turkish military shot down a Russian military jet. Since then, Russian sanctions against Turkey, and Turkey’s escalating accusations against Armenia, a Russian ally, have revived the specter of war in the region.

Armenia controls a mountainous territory containing130,000 people in Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies within Azerbaijani borders. War over this enclave waged from 1988 to 1994. A Russian base in Armenia has provided some stability but if Turkey throws military weight behind its ally, Muslim-majority Azerbaijan, the fragile peace that has lasted for over 20 years could fracture in a monumentally dangerous way.

It is into this caldron that Pope Francis steps.

Between Sept. 30 and Oct. 2, the Pope will make an apostolic visit to Georgia and Azerbaijan, both countries visited by St. John Paul II.

As in Armenia, the Holy See has good relations with the Orthodox Church in Georgia, led by Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II — one of four Orthodox leaders boycotting this week’s Holy and Great Council in Crete.

Less than 1% of the Georgian population is Catholic. Last year, Pope Francis met with Georgian president Giorgi Margvelashvili, elected in 2014.

Does the Holy See have any cards to play in Azerbaijan?

Yes. The two states entered a diplomatic agreement only five years ago, and have shared a flurry of events and exchanges since.

Azerbaijan is one of only a few a majority Shia Muslim countries in the world. The Catholic Church has cultivated strong relations with Shia Muslim countries around the world, especially in Iran.

At the ordination of a new Armenian Catholic bishop being sent to Istafan, Iran from Beirut last year, a Church official told the Register, “Do people in the West realize we have Catholic Armenian communities in Iran? Do they care? Our faith has helped us survive and the Holy See, discreet but everywhere present, is a key advocate, not just for Catholics but the entire Christian world.”

Senior Register correspondent Victor Gaetan is an award-winning

international correspondent and a contributor to Foreign Affairs magazine.

Source:cregister.com/

Russia Catholics to arrive in Armenia to pray with Pope Francis

June 21, 2016 By administrator

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A group of pilgrims from Russia will join the 25 thousand Catholics and pray during Saturday’s Holy Mass which Pope Francis will offer at Vardanants Square in Gyumri, Armenia.

Fr. Petros Yesayan, the spiritual leader of the Armenian Catholic community in Moscow, told the abovementioned to RIA Novosti news agency of Russia.

Aside from Muscovites, Catholic groups from the Armenian communities in several other Russian cities also will arrive in Armenia on his occasion.

The official schedule for the Pope’s visit to Armenia is as follows:

Friday, June 24

15.00 Arrival at Yerevan’s Zvartnots Airport with welcome ceremony there.

15.35 Visit to pray at Apostolic Cathedral at Etchmiadzin (Greetings given by Catholicos of All Armenia, Karekin II and by Pope Francis)

18.00 Courtesy visit to Armenia’s President in the Presidential Palace.

18.30 Meeting with civil authorities and the Diplomatic Corps in the Presidential Palace (speech by the Pope)

19.30 Private meeting with Catholicos in the Apostolic Palace

Saturday, June 25

08.45 Visit to Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan

10.00 Journey by plane to Gyumri

11.00 Holy Mass in Gyumri’s Vardanants Square (Homily By the Pope and greeting by Catholicos)

16.45 Visit to the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of the Seven Wounds

17.15 Visit to the Holy Martyrs Armenian Catholic Cathedral in Gyumri

18.00 Journey by plane back to Yerevan

19.00 Ecumenical Encounter and Prayer for Peace in Yerevan’s Republic Square

Sunday, June 26

09.15 Meeting with Catholic Bishops of Armenia in the Apostolic Palace at Etchmiadzin

10.00 Participation in Divine Liturgy in the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral (Homily by Catholicos and greeting by the Pope)

Ecumenical Lunch with the Catholicos, Archbishops and Bishops of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholic Bishops of Armenia and Cardinals and Bishops from the Papal entourage in the Apostolic Palace.

15.00 Meeting with delegates and benefactors of the Apostolic Armenian Church in the Apostolic Palace

16.05 Signing of Joint Declaration in the Apostolic Palace

17.00 Prayer at Khor Virap Monastery

18.15 Farewell Ceremony at airport

18.30 Departure by plane for Rome

All times are in Armenia standard time.

Pope Francis donates $110,000 to Iraqi refugees in Kurdistan

June 20, 2016 By administrator

Pope Francis. Photo: Photo Catholic Church England and Wales/Flickr

ROME,— Pope Francis has donated $110,000 to a Catholic charity to provide medicine for Iraqi refugees in Kurdistan Region suffering from chronic illnesses. He did so as part of a campaign aimed at inspiring every diocese, church and movement to make concrete acts of mercy during the Holy Year.

Francis is the first benefactor of a campaign called “Be God’s Mercy,” launched on Friday by the pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

The four-month fundraising effort will benefit projects such as pastoral ministry in prisons, drug rehabilitation centers, support groups for battered women and aid for refugees.

The pope’s donation will go to St. Joseph’s Clinic in Erbil, part of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, which is currently home to hundreds of thousands of Christian refugees who have had to flee their homes running from the terrorist Islamic group ISIS.

The health center offers medical care to 2,800 patients suffering chronic deceases.

The Roman Catholic Church is almost certainly the wealthiest organization in the world. In the United States alone, it is estimated that the Catholic Church has an operating budget of $170 billion in 2014, according to economist website.

The pontiff expressed his support to the fundraising initiative in a video message, introduced at a press conference in Rome.

“Men and women need the mercy of God, but also our own mercy,” he said. “We need to hold each other’s hands, caress each other, take care of one another, instead of waging so many wars.”

Francis invited “every man and woman of good will” to contribute in creating concrete works of mercy, “something that will remain,” structures that would help meet “the many needs present in the world today.”

“I thank you for everything you do. And don’t be afraid of mercy: mercy is God’s caress!” he said, closing the message.

ACN, also known by its German name “Kirche in not”, which is the one Francis uses throughout the video, is an international Catholic charity under the authority of the Holy See, born in 1947 at the express request of Pope Pius XII to help the refugees after the Second World War.

According to Philipp Ozores, secretary general of ACN, Francis has a long history with this charity.

Ozores said on Friday that 30 years ago, when the future pope was Father Jorge Mario Bergoglio, he visited the main offices of ACN in Germany in an attempt to put a face on the people who had helped him fund projects in his home country of Argentina.

Source: http://ekurd.net/pope-donates-iraqi-refugees-2016-06-20

The “pilgrimage” of Pope Francis in Armenia

June 20, 2016 By administrator

pope22 Pope Francis described his forthcoming visit to Armenia as a “Christian pilgrimage.” He added that this should further strengthen political and religious links between Armenia and the Roman Catholic Church.

“I ask you to pray for me, who in a few days will go as a pilgrim in an eastern land, Armenia, the first among the nations to have received Jesus in the Gospel,” said the Pope would by François Italian news agency ANSA. He reportedly said this on Thursday at the meeting of aid agencies for Eastern Churches.

Pope Francis will arrive in Armenia June 24 He will meet with President Serzh Sargsyan will attend joint religious services with clergymen of the Armenian Apostolic Church and will hold an outdoor Mass for the Catholic community of Armenia.

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, head of the Congregation of Oriental Churches in the Vatican, said this week that the three-day visit of the Pope is a “gesture of affection and admiration” for the Christian heritage of Armenia .

“It will be an act of devotion to this country, the first to adopt Christianity in 301 when Saint Gregory the Illuminator led the entire nation to conversion and baptism,” said Sandri during an interview newspaper “La Stampa”.

“The pope will bring gratitude and appreciation for the people who were trained by the Christian spirit and managed to protect the precious treasure of faith and their identity for centuries,” he added. “This is the spiritual power which Armenia can build a future of peace and hope.”

Sandri described the Vatican’s relationship with the Armenian Apostolic Church as “very fraternal and particularly friendly.” He also praised the tolerant attitudes of the church towards the Catholic minority in Armenia, concentrated in the northwestern province of Shirak .

Sandri inaugurated a new Armenian Catholic church in the provincial capital of Gyumri in September. President Serzh Sargsyan also attended the ceremony, emphasizing the warm relation of the Armenian government with the Vatican.

Pope Calls for Prayers for Armenia Trip

June 17, 2016 By administrator

pope visit VATICAN, ETCHMIADZIN—Pope Francis on Thursday asked the faithful to pray for his upcoming trip to Armenia, ANSA reports.

“I ask you to pray for me, who in a few days will go as a pilgrim to an eastern land, Armenia, the first among the Nations to receive the Gospel of Jesus,” he said at an audience for the Reunion of Aid Agencies For the Eastern Churches.

The Armenian Apostolic Church called on its followers on Wednesday to gather at its main cathedral in Echmiadzin to greet Pope Francis at the start of his landmark visit to Armenia on June 24, reported Azatutyun.am.

“The Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin invites its faithful to the Mother Cathedral at 3:35 p.m. on June 24 to participate in the official welcoming ceremony for Pope Francis, the Holy Bishop of Rome, which will be held upon his arrival,” read a statement posted on the church website late.

Worshippers will not need official invitations to attend the religious ceremony, it said.

Karekin II, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and President Serzh Sarkisian invited Francis to visit their country when they separately travelled to the Vatican in 2014. Both men also attended his papal inauguration in 2013, highlighting Armenia’s growing ties with the Roman Catholic Church.

The official logo of the three-day visit is clearly designed to symbolize that rapprochement. It is a round seal painted yellow and purple: the official flag colors of the Vatican and the Armenian Church respectively. The logo also displays the emblems of the two churches.

Francis will have a busy schedule during the upcoming trip. His planned engagements include a visit to the Armenian genocide memorial in Yerevan, an open-air mass for Armenian Catholics in Gyumri, and a joint ecumenical service with Karekin in Yerevan’s central Republic Square.

Francis has repeatedly paid tribute to some 1.5 million Armenians that were massacred or starved to death by the Ottoman Turks during the First World War. He described the massacres as “the first genocide of the 20th century” during an April 2015 mass at the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the tragedy.

Turkey accused the pontiff of distorting history and recalled its ambassador to the Vatican in protest. Armenia denounced the furious Turkish reaction.

The late Pope John Paul II recognized the Armenian genocide in a joint declaration with Karekin that was adopted during his 2001 visit to Armenia. Francis is also due to issue a joint declaration with Karekin.