EWTNews
7-May-2008 -- EWTNews Brief
Pope, Armenian Patriarch Committed to Christian Unity
Vatican, May. 7, 2008 (CWNews.com) - At his regular weekly public audience on May 7, Pope Benedict XVI welcomed the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church to Rome, and spoke about the urgency of ecumenical work.
In greeting Catholicos Karekin II, the Holy Father said that the Armenian patriarch's visit "revives our hope for the full unity of all Christians." He saluted the "commitment of the Armenian Apostolic Church to ecumenical dialogue."
As the Christian world prepares to celebrate the feast of Pentecost, the Pope said, the faithful should pray for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit, conscious that the Spirit "renews the earth and creates unity where before there was division."
"We have the certainty that the Lord Jesus never abandons us in our search for unity," the Pope said, "because his Spirit is tirelessly at work to support the efforts we make to overcome all forms of division." He went on to say that the Spirit creates "the great community which is the Church in all the world."
Christianity is always in a state of expectation, like the apostles before the first Pentecost, the Pope continued. The faithful "pray incessantly to obtain ever-new effusions of the gifts of the holy Spirit." He added that "we too invoke these gifts on all Christians," hoping that the followers of Christ will form a sign of unity visible to all the world.
Pope Benedict invited Catholicos Karekin to address the audience in St. Peter's square, and the Armenian patriarch reaffirmed his commitment to the cause of restoring Christian unity.
Karekin II also said, during his brief remarks, that the world should recognize the suffering of the Armenian people in the genocide of the early 20th century. Earlier Pope Benedict had said that the appearance of his distinguished guest "serves to remind us of the severe persecutions suffered by Armenian Christians, especially during the last century."
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