HOLY FATHER TO INAUGURATE ROME-ARMENIA EXHIBITION

VATICAN CITY, MAR 23, 1999 (VIS) - Tomorrow morning in the Regia Hall, Pope John Paul will inaugurate the "Rome-Armenia Exhibition" in the presence of Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of all Armenians, Karekin I, and Armenian President Robert Kocharian, it was announced this morning during a press conference.

Presiding at the conference to present the exhibit were Archbishop Jorge Maria Mejia, archivist and librarian of Holy Roman Church, and Armenia's ambassador to the Holy See, Armen Sarkissian.

Highlighting the long-standing relations between the Church in Rome and the Church in Armenia and the Armenian people, Archbishop Mejia observed that "an ancient and venerable Church which has inspired and continues to inspire an intense and many-faceted cultural life in a number of milieux of human knowledge and activity, will become even more present and better known and appreciated by the many visitors who are expected." He added that "the importance which the Holy See gives to this exhibition is underlined by the presence of the Holy Father at the solemn opening tomorrow."

Ambassador Sarkissian stated that "the Rome-Armenia exhibition in the magnificent Sistine Hall of the Vatican displays as never before the great historical and cultural relationship between these two ancient civilizations which stretches back nearly 2,000 years and is now enjoying a renaissance following the return to the world community of an independent Armenia."

"Key to its unique identity," added the ambassador, "has been Armenia's unswerving adherence to Christianity." In 301 A.D., Armenia adopted Christianity as the state religion, he said, adding that "this act of self-determination ... made Armenia the first country in the world to declare Christianity as its state religion. ... Its faith in the values and principles of Christ has reinforced its support for the fundamental ideas of freedom, human dignity and the self-determination of free people."

The exhibit, he remarked, "will help to create an atmosphere of greater understanding and cooperation which, I am convinced, is the way to a better world of peace, harmony and goodwill among peoples in the Third Christian Millennium."

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