Mr President,<\/p>\n
Your Holiness,<\/p>\n
Dear Armenian Friends,<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I give thanks to Almighty God that today, for the first time, the Bishop of Rome stands on<\/p>\n
Armenian soil in this ancient and beloved land, of which your great poet Daniel Varujan once<\/p>\n
wrote: “From the villages to the far horizons \/ the land spreads forth as mother” (The Call of<\/p>\n
the Lands). For a long time I have awaited this moment of grace and joy \u2013 and most especially<\/p>\n
since the visits to the Vatican by yourself, Mr President, and by Your Holiness, Supreme<\/p>\n
Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I am deeply grateful to you, Mr President, for your gracious words of welcome on behalf of the<\/p>\n
Government and people of Armenia. I take this opportunity to thank the Civil and Military<\/p>\n
Authorities, as well as the Diplomatic Corps accredited to Armenia, for welcoming me here<\/p>\n
today. In greeting you, my esteem and friendship extend not only to the Armenians living here<\/p>\n
in your homeland, but also to the millions scattered throughout the world who remain faithful to<\/p>\n
their heritage and identity, and today look to their land of origin with renewed pride and<\/p>\n
gladness. Their hearts too beat with the sentiments described by Varujan in one of his poems:<\/p>\n
“My soul delights to plunge into the shining wave of blue, \/ to sink, if need be, into the celestial<\/p>\n
fires; \/ to know new stars, the ancient long lost homeland, \/ from where my soul has fallen and<\/p>\n
still weeps remembering heaven” (Nights on the Threshing Floor).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Your Holiness, Catholicos Karekin, with fraternal love in the Lord I embrace you and the<\/p>\n
Church over which you preside. Without your encouragement I would not now be here, a<\/p>\n
pilgrim on a spiritual journey to honour the extraordinary witness of Christian life borne by the<\/p>\n
Armenian Apostolic Church through so many centuries, and not least in the Twentieth Century,<\/p>\n
which for you was a time of unspeakable terror and suffering. The whole Catholic Church<\/p>\n
shares your deep joy and the joy of all Armenians on the Seventeen Hundredth Anniversary of<\/p>\n
the proclamation of Christianity as the official religion of this cherished land.<\/p>\n
I embrace my Brother Bishops and all the faithful of the Catholic Church in Armenia and the<\/p>\n
surrounding regions, eager to confirm you in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the service<\/p>\n
of your neighbour and of your country.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I am deeply moved as I think of the glorious history of Christianity in this land, going back<\/p>\n
according to tradition to the preaching of the Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew. Later,<\/p>\n
through the witness and work of Saint Gregory the Illuminator, Christianity for the first time<\/p>\n
became the faith of an entire nation. For ever, the annals of the universal Church will say that<\/p>\n
the people of Armenia were the first as a whole people to embrace the grace and truth of the<\/p>\n
Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Since those epic times, your Church has never ceased to sing<\/p>\n
the praises of God the Father, to celebrate the mystery of the Death and Resurrection of his<\/p>\n
Son Jesus Christ and to invoke the help of the Holy Spirit, the Consoler. You zealously guard the<\/p>\n
memory of your many martyrs: indeed, martyrdom has been the special mark of the Armenian<\/p>\n
Church and the Armenian people.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Armenia\u2019s past is inseparable from her Christian faith. Fidelity to the Gospel of Jesus Christ<\/p>\n
will contribute no less to the future which the nation is building beyond the devastations of the<\/p>\n
past century. Mr President, dear Friends, you have just celebrated the tenth anniversary of<\/p>\n
independence. That was a significant step on the path towards a just and harmonious society in<\/p>\n
which all will feel fully at home and see their legitimate rights respected. Everyone, especially<\/p>\n
those responsible for public life, are called today to be genuinely committed to the common<\/p>\n
good, in justice and solidarity, putting the progress of the people ahead of any partial interests.<\/p>\n
This is also true in the urgent search for peace at the regional level. Peace will only be built on<\/p>\n
the solid foundations of mutual respect, justice in inter-community relations, and magnanimity<\/p>\n
on the part of the strong.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Armenia has become a member of the Council of Europe, and this indicates your determination<\/p>\n
to work with decision and courage to implement the democratic reforms of the country\u2019s<\/p>\n
institutions needed to guarantee respect for the human and civil rights of its citizens. These are<\/p>\n
difficult but also challenging and uplifting times for the nation. May they be met by a firm<\/p>\n
resolve on the part of everyone to love their country, and sacrifice themselves for the spiritual<\/p>\n
and material well-being of its people!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
God bless the Armenian people with freedom, prosperity and peace!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
APOSTOLIC VOYAGE IN ARMENIA
\nWELCOME CEREMONY
\nADDRESS OF JOHN PAUL II
\nZvartnotz International Airport
\nYerevan, 25 September 2001<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-posts","category-visit-of-pope-john-paul-ii-to-armenia-2001"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27991"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27992,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27991\/revisions\/27992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}