AILING KAREKIN I ASKS POPE TO DEFER TRIP TO ARMENIA

VATICAN CITY, JUN 11, 1999 (VIS) - The following declaration was made at 1 p.m. today in Warsaw by Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls, who is accompanying the Holy Father on his apostolic trip to Poland:

"Last evening, upon his arrival in Warsaw, John Paul II received Archbishop Khajak Barsamian, the special envoy of His Holiness Karekin I, supreme patriarch and Catholicos of all the Armenians. In the course of the meeting Archbishop Marsamian expressed the disappointment of the Catholicos who, due to the worsening of his health, was obliged to suggest to the Holy Father that he postpone his visit to Armenia."

PV-POLAND;ARMENIA; KAREKIN;...;NAVARRO-VALLS;VIS;19990611;Word: 120;