CATHOLICOS KAREKIN II ARRIVES TOMORROW FOR FOUR-DAY VISIT

VATICAN CITY, NOV 7, 2000 (VIS) - His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of all the Armenians, arrives in Rome tomorrow afternoon to start a four-day visit which will include an ecumenical celebration in St. Peter's Basilica with Pope John Paul at 11:30 Friday morning, November 10.

All hymns and songs of Friday's celebration will be of the liturgical tradition of the Armenian Church. Both John Paul II and Karekin II will delivery the homily, following which a relic of St. Gregory the Armenian, known as Gregory the Enlightened, will be given by the Pope to His Holiness Karekin II. The relic, which has been in Naples and was brought to Rome by Cardinal Michele Giordano, archbishop of Naples, will be placed in the cathedral of Yerevan, Armenia.

His Holiness Karekin II is scheduled to arrive late tomorrow afternoon with an entourage, composed of representatives of the Church in Armenia, North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Australia. They will be welcomed at the Vatican's St. Martha Residence by Cardinal Edward Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. On November 9, 10 and 11, the Catholicos will, among other events, meet privately with Pope John Paul, visit offices of the Roman Curia, go to the Pontifical Armenian College for lunch and a visit, have lunch with the Holy Father, attend a reception offered by the Embassy of Armenia to the Holy See, and visit the four patriarchal basilicas of Rome.

Before his election in October 1999 to succeed Karekin I, who died in June of that year, Karekin II, baptized Ktrij Nersissian, was archbishop of Ararat and vicar general of the see of Etchmiadzin. He is now the leader of seven million apostolic Armenian Christians in Armenia and the diaspora.

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