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Friday, November 21, 2008

VISIT TO ROME OF CATHOLICOS OF CILICIA OF THE ARMENIANS

VATICAN CITY, 21 NOV 2008 (VIS) - His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of Cilicia of the Armenians, whose See is located in the Lebanese town of Antelias, is scheduled to make an official visit to the Pope and the Church of Rome from 23 to 27 November.

  The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin. In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias. Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.

  A communique made public yesterday afternoon announces that the Catholicos will visit St. Peter's Basilica on the morning of Monday 24 November. There he will pray at the tomb of John Paul II before moving on to the Patio of St. Gregory the Illuminator to pay homage to the saint considered to be the apostle of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He will subsequently be received in audience by Benedict XVI.

  On Wednesday 26 November, the Catholicos, his entourage, and a group of around 50 Armenian lay people who have come to Rome for the visit will attend the weekly general audience.

  The programme of the Catholicos' visit includes two other celebrations. On 24 November, in the Roman basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls, he will attend a liturgy with Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, archpriest of the basilica, and some members of the cathedral chapter.

  On Tuesday 25 November, he will attend Vespers in the basilica of St. Bartholomew on the Isola Tiberina in Rome, where he will offer a relic of Armenian martyrs. Later the same day he will participate in a prayer meeting at the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.

  The Catholicos of Cilicia of the Armenians will also participate in an academic ceremony to be held in his honour at the Pontifical Urban University, and meet with Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and other officials of that dicastery.
OP/PROGRAMME VISIT/CATHOLICOS ARAM I            VIS 20081121 (370)


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