“Some occurrences happened after the ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica, but the true relations between the Holy See and Turkey are good, there are no reasons to see big issues here. Yesterday evening, references to past tragedies were made not for inflaming the wounds, but rather to help find grounds for reconciliation”, Federico Lombardi said.
“We are praying here for the tragedy of the Armenian people, and let the humanity understand this and differentiate bad from good. Let the memory of the tragedy of the Armenian people stay within us, and it is the memory that will prevent similar crimes in the future”.
The MFA of Armenia informs that by the invitation of the Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov will pay an official visit to Armenia on June 27-28.
“Indescribable feeling when a three hours later after arriving in your home country, you deserve such happiness. Prayers to God for the sake of peace and prosperity to my suffered people, a great man and a true Christian”, she writes.
Pope Francis signed the Honorary Guest Book by writing – “Here I pray with pain in my heart, so that never more will there be tragedies like this, so that humanity does not forget and knows how to overcome the evil with good. May God grant the beloved Armenian people and the entire world peace and consolation. May God protect the memory of the Armenian people. Memory should not be diluted or forgotten. Memory is source of peace and the future”.
“They shall build up the ancient ruins… they shall repair the ruined cities” (Is61:4). In this place, dear brothers and sisters, we can say that the words of the Prophet Isaiah have come to pass. After the terrible devastation of the earthquake, we gather today to give thanks to God for all that has been rebuilt”.
Pope Francis is popular in Armenia, a nation where Christian identity blends into Armenian identity. Many of the people especially women wear huge pectoral crosses and taxi drivers make the sign of the cross several times whenever they pass in front of churches.
The pope arrived Friday afternoon in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, which he noted was the first country to adopt Christianity as a state religion. The downtown was decorated with Armenian and purple-and-yellow flags welcoming Pope Francis to “the first Christian nation.”
John Paul II became the first pope to visit Armenia with his 2001 trip and was the first pontiff to refer to the 1915 slaughter of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, although he did so only in writing.
“The occurred, of course, is a rather serious challenge for the EU and will oblige to proofread the policy implemented towards various directions of the EU—social, politics, migration in the field of Neighborhood and Enlargement Policies. That challenge supposes rather lasting and hard discussions and those discussions within the EU structures will tend not to be temptations for other countries, and follow the example of Great Britain.”
