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First Message of Karekin II to Pope Benedict XVI

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  • First Message of Karekin II to Pope Benedict XVI

    PRESS RELEASE
    Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
    Address: Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
    Contact: Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
    Tel: (374 1) 517 163
    Fax: (374 1) 517 301
    E-Mail: [email protected]

    May 12, 2008

    First Message of His Holiness KAREKIN II, Catholicos of All Armenians,
    To the faithful during the meeting with
    His Holiness BENEDICT XVI, Pope of the Catholic Church
    Vatican City, 07 May 2008

    In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

    We offer thanks to our Lord, Who gave us the opportunity through Your
    Holiness' kind invitation to visit once more the eternal city of Rome
    and the Holy See of the Catholic Church. We have come from the
    spiritual center and headquarters of the Holy Armenian Apostolic
    Church - the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, with our high-ranking
    clergymen and our pious and worthy sons and daughters, and through our
    fraternal embrace with Your Holiness, we testify to the divinely
    ordained love between the Catholic and Armenian Churches, which `¦is
    poured into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit who is given to us.'
    (Romans 5:5)

    Dear Brother in Christ, today, on the threshold of the Feast of
    Pentecost, when we unite our prayers to those of Your Holiness and of
    your faithful sons and daughters, we praise and glorify the Holy
    Spirit, Who is the fountainhead of unity and transforms our steps on
    the paths of brotherhood with grace - steps which are for the glory of
    God and are born from the love of Christ, for the sake of establishing
    peace in the world and a blessed life for mankind. In spite of
    different historical experiences and paths we have traversed; in spite
    of dogmatic and cultural divergences, we are all children of the one
    God, and we are all brothers and sisters in His Holy love. For in our
    diversity, it is our unity of love that is the genuine testimony that
    we are children of God.

    Intolerance and confrontation must not be allowed within the
    brotherhood and love of Christ. Mankind has suffered much as a
    result. Today as n of God - the world that surrounds us - is imperiled
    through interfaith disagreements, through wars and terrorism, through
    the effects of poverty and neglect. Our brothers and sisters are in
    distress in the Middle East and many other regions of the world; where
    women and children, the elderly and disabled are endangered by the
    blows of disagreement and division, unjust competition and
    enmity. This is not the Will of God. This is not our calling. We
    aspire to live a life in peace, of creation and creativity, to use the
    graces given to us by the Holy Spirit, to serve the establishment of
    unity and solidarity with the love of Jesus Christ and the message of
    the Gospel, since `for those that love God, all things work together
    unto good.' (Romans 8:28)

    We Armenians are a people who have survived genocide, and we know well
    the value of love, brotherhood, friendship, peace and a secure
    life. Today, many countries of the world recognize and condemn the
    Genocide committed against the Armenian people by Ottoman Turkey, as
    did the Holy See, by His Holiness Pope John Paul II of blessed memory
    during our fraternal visit to Rome in 2000. Offering prayers to his
    luminous memory, we as Pontiff of the Armenians, appeal to all nations
    and lands to universally condemn all genocides that have occurred
    throughout history and those that continue through the present day, so
    that those who yield power and authority realize their
    responsibilities and results of those crimes which have been and
    continue to be committed against the creation of God, and that the
    denial of these crimes is an injustice that equals the commission of
    the same.

    At this joyous moment of prayer, our sincere appeal to our Lord in
    heaven is that He keep our planet unshaken with harmony, brotherhood
    and reconciliation among peoples.. May Almighty God keep our two
    Churches under his watchful and benevolent gaze in steadfast
    friendship, protecting Your Holiness under His All-Provident Right
    Hand, granting you many long years of blessed reign to lea the
    Catholic Church with your vision and characteristic wisdom, `to green
    pastures¦ and to the still waters¦' (Psalms 23)

    May the love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all, now
    and always. Amen.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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