Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Armenian Catholics in Armenia, Georgia, Russia and Eastern Europe,

I would like to share with you my great spiritual joy on the occasion of election of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV on the 8^th of May, 2025 by the Conclave of Cardinals, guided by the Holy Spirit. By God’s will, a Pope has been elected with many years’ experience in missionary pastoral work, determined to continue the reforms of his predecessor Pope Francis, with the priority of proclaiming the Good News of the Gospel and with the wide pastoral vision of helping poor, needy, vulnerable societies, reaffirming human dignity, defending human rights, restoring social justice, preventing wars, contributing to the establishment of peace and promoting interreligious dialogue.

In addition to all this, the newly-elected Pope has chosen to take the name of His Holiness Pope Leo XIII, who loved the Armenian people, and this is symbolic for suffering Armenian people and is much to their liking. I would like to remind that Pope Leo XIII took special care for the development of spiritual and national identity of the Armenian people. It was him who in 1883 donated to the Armenian Catholic Church the huge institution in Rome, which later on became known as “Levonian Armenian Pontificial College”. Numerous generations of Armenian Catholic clergy got education there, and up today our seminarians continue their study in this College simultaneously with the higher theological education in the best pontificial universities of Rome. Thus, Pope Leo XIII gave the Armenian Catholic seminarians the opportunity to get the best spiritual education on equal rights, enlightening the Armenian Catholic Church and improving the image of the Armenian clergy, as well as the spiritual characteristics of the entrusted Armenian believeing people, anchored in the sacramental unity of the Catholic Church, at the same time enriching the Armenian national identity. It is proved by the best graduates of the College – clergy, among which is the Servant of God, Cardinal Grigor Petros XV Aghajanian. In 1888 Pope Leo XIII also wrote a special circular letter, addressed to the Armenian people, which was entitled “Paternal Love” (”Paterna Caritas”) and where he expressed his fatherly appreciation of spiritual achievements of the Armenian people, especially of the big efforts towards church communion.

I am convinced that the newly-elected Pope Leo XIV will follow this pro-Armenian approach of his predecessor in accordance with the up-to-date needs of the Armenian people, with the vision of guiding us by his paternal love to the better future.

This is my fatherly request that we fervently pray in all our communities and families for the newly-elected Pope Leo XIV, entrusting him to the intercession of Our Lady, whom he loves so much and to whom he has devoted his life, asking God to grant him wisdom and abilities to guide the entrusted Holy Catholic Church all over the world towards “the green places and quiet waters” (Ps. 22).

11^th of May, 2025

✠ KEVORK ARCHBISHOP NORADOUNGUIAN

Titular Archbishop of Sebastia

Ordinary of Armenian Catholics of Armenia, Georgia, Russia and Eastern Europe.