Fraternal Visit of Catholicos of All Armenians to Vatican
05.04.2018
On the evening of April 4, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; traveled to the Vatican on a fraternal visit, at the invitation of Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church; to participate the unveiling ceremony of a statue of St. Gregory of Narek.
The Catholicos of All Armenians was accompanied by His Eminence Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America; His Eminence Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan, Director of the External Relations and Protocol Department of the Mother See; Very Rev. Fr. Shahe Ananyan, Director of Ecumenical Relations of the Mother See; Rev. Fr. Vahram Melikyan, Director of the Information System Department of Mother See; and Rev. Fr. Tovma Khachatryan, Armenian spiritual pastor of Italy.
On the morning of April 5, His Holiness, accompanied by the delegation, left for the Apostolic chamber, where a private meeting of the Catholicos of All Armenians and Pope Francis was held.
Following the meeting, with the participation of Pope Francis; His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; as well as Catholicos Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia, who have traveled from Lebanon; and His Beatitude Krikor Bedros XX Gabroyan, Patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church; and in the presence of the President of the Republic of Armenia Mr. Serzh Sargsyan, the unveiling ceremony of the statue of St. Gregory of Narek was held.
St. Gregory of Narek, one of the fathers of the Armenian Apostolic Church, was proclaimed as a "Doctor of the Church" by the Catholic
Church on April 12, 2015, in the St. Peter Cathedral, during the Divine Liturgy offered by Pope Francis. President Sargsyan had presented a model of the statue to Pope Francis, during the Pope’s visit to Armenia in 2016.
The bronze statue of St. Gregory of Narek was erected in the Vatican Garden by the benefaction of Mr. Mikael Minasyan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the Vatican; and businessman Artur Janibekyan from Russia; and through the efforts of Mr. Vardan Karapetyan, Chairman of the Culture Department of the Republic of Armenia Embassy at the Vatican.
The maker of the statue is Davit Yerevantsi, an Armenian sculptor and artist; and the designer is Mr. Michael Hasratyan.
During the Ecumenical service following the unveiling, hymns of the Armenian Apostolic and Catholic Churches were sang, a passage from the St. Gregory of Narek prayer-book was read, during which Mr. Mikael Minasyan unveiled the revered statue. Then, Pope Francis blessed the statue following which the Patriarchs asked for the intercession of the saint through prayer.
Attending the ceremony were Armenia National Assembly Deputies, members of the Armenian government, state officials, and pilgrims from various Armenian dioceses of the Diaspora.
During the day, His Holiness Karekin II, accompanied by his delegation also visited St. Peter's Cathedral. A personal prayer was offered at the St. Gregory the Illuminator statue.
