GREETINGS TO ARMENIAN BISHOPS MEETING IN VATICAN

VATICAN CITY, MAY 5, 1999 (VIS) - During today's general audience, the Pope greeted His Beatitude Jean-Pierre XVIII, patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians, and the bishops of the Armenian Catholic Church who are holding a synod in the Vatican dedicated to important questions about the lives of their communities.

Wishing them "fruitful work sessions," John Paul II said in French: "The Church is grateful to your people for their faithful witness to Christ, and she rejoices in the celebration of the 17th centenary of evangelization. It is with courage, faith, enthusiasm and in prayer that you are called to a new apostolic elan. Your people await powerful words and concrete actions which confirm them."

He invoked the Holy Spirit to give "strength and courage to the Armenian Catholic community at this important turning point in its history."

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