Yerevan /Mediamax/. His Holiness Pope Leo XIV conveyed fraternal regards to Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II.
On November 30, Pope Leo XIV visited the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral in Istanbul, where he met with the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, Sahak II, and participated in the liturgy.
In his speech, Leo XIV said, in particular:
“It is a great joy for me to visit Your Beatitude, especially in the very place where the late Patriarchs Shenork I and Mesrob II, of happy memory, welcomed my predecessors. As I greet you, I would also like to extend my fraternal regards to His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, who recently honored me with a visit, as well as to the bishops, clergy and the entire Armenian Apostolic community in Istanbul and Türkiye.
This visit provides me with the opportunity to thank God for the courageous Christian witness of the Armenian people throughout history, often amid tragic circumstances. I would also like to express my deep gratitude to the Lord for the ever-closer fraternal bonds uniting the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholic Church.
Shortly after the Second Vatican Council, in May 1967, His Holiness Catholicos Khoren I became the first primate of an Oriental Orthodox Church to visit and exchange the kiss of peace with the Bishop of Rome. I also recall that in May 1970, His Holiness Catholicos Vasken I signed with Pope Paul VI the first joint declaration between a Pope and an Oriental Orthodox Patriarch, inviting their faithful to rediscover themselves as brothers and sisters in Christ with a view to fostering unity. Since then, by God’s grace, the “dialogue of charity” between our Churches has flourished.
I would like to remember the great 12th-century Catholicos and poet Nerses IV Shnorhali, whose 850th anniversary of death we recently commemorated, and who worked tirelessly to reconcile the churches in order to fulfill Christ’s prayer that ‘they may all be one’”.
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