Acta Francisci Pp. 789

VI

Karekin II, qui Catholicos appellatur, Summoque Pontifice Francisco com- munem Declarationem subscribentibus.1*

COMMON DECLARATION OF HIS HOLINESS FRANCIS

AND HIS HOLINESS KAREKIN II AT HOLY ETCHMIADZIN, REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA

Today in Holy Etchmiadzin, spiritual center of All Armenians, we, Pope

Francis and Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II raise our minds and hearts

in thanksgiving to the Almighty for the continuing and growing closeness in

faith and love between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholic Church

in their common witness to the Gospel message of salvation in a world torn

by strife and yearning for comfort and hope. We praise the Most Holy Trinity,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for enabling us to come together in the biblical land

of Ararat, which stands as a reminder that God will ever be our protection and

salvation. We are spiritually gratified to remember that in 2001, on the occasion

of the 1700th anniversary of the proclamation of Christianity as the religion of

Armenia, Saint John Paul II visited Armenia and was a witness to a new page

in warm and fraternal relations between the Armenian Apostolic Church and

the Catholic Church. We are grateful that we had the grace of being together,

at a solemn liturgy in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome on 12 April 2015, where

we pledged our will to oppose every form of discrimination and violence, and

commemorated the victims of what the Common Declaration of His Holiness

John-Paul II and His Holiness Karekin II spoke of as « the extermination of a

million and a half Armenian Christians, in what is generally referred to as the

first genocide of the twentieth century » (27 September 2001).

We praise the Lord that today, the Christian faith is again a vibrant

reality in Armenia, and that the Armenian Church carries on her mission

with a spirit of fraternal collaboration between the Churches, sustaining

the faithful in building a world of solidarity, justice and peace.

Sadly, though, we are witnessing an immense tragedy unfolding before

our eyes, of countless innocent people being killed, displaced or forced into

* Die 26 Iunii 2016.