VATICAN CITY, NOV 10, 2000 (VIS) - This morning, John Paul II and His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of all Armenians, presided at an ecumenical celebration in St. Peter's Basilica.
All the hymns and chants of today's ceremony were of the liturgical tradition of the Armenian Church. After listening to the words of the Catholicos Karekin II, the Holy Father pronounced a homily.
The Pope affirmed that "in the year 2001, the Armenian Church will celebrate the seventeenth centenary of the Baptism of Armenia through the ministry of St. Gregory the Illuminator." He also expressed his happiness at being able to return a relic of that saint "which has been kept in the Convent of St. Gregory the Armenian in Naples, and venerated there for many centuries. The relic will be placed in the new cathedral now being built in Yerevan as a symbol of hope and of the Church's mission in Armenia after so many years of oppression and silence."
"Through history," he continued, "there have been many contacts between the Catholic Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church; and there have been various attempts to restore full communion. Now we must pray and work fervently that the day will soon come when our sees and the bishops will be in full communion once more, when we can celebrate together, at the same altar, the Eucharist as the supreme sign and source of unity in Christ. Until that day dawns, each of our Eucharistic celebrations will suffer the absence of the brother who is not yet there."
Addressing His Holiness Karekin II, John Paul II said: "May the Spirit inspire and guide you in your pastoral ministry to the Armenian people, both in the land of your birth and throughout the world. To your fraternal prayer I entrust my own ministry as Bishop of Rome: that I may be able to exercise this ministry more and more as a 'service of love recognized by all concerned,' so that all will at last be one."
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