A video message has been released ahead of the Pope’s visit to Armenia from Friday and Sunday: “We must not let painful memories take control of our hearts, nor must we tire of sending out a dove as Noah did”
Francis invited a group of refugees, who came to Rome with Caritas Florence, onto the stage during the Audience, on Wednesday, June 22, the final one before the summer break. “Christians do not exclude anyone,” the Pope said.
Pope Francis will visit a memorial to the Armenians slaughtered by the Ottoman empire in 1915, in what will be a diplomatically sensitive trip to the country which borders Turkey.
Francis is flying on Friday, June 24, to Armenia for a three day visit to the country which will see him release a flock of doves at the Armenian-Turkish border and visit the Tzitzernakaberd memorial to those killed a century ago in Yerevan.
It is unlikely, however, that the Pope will describe the massacre as a “genocide,” a term which is hotly contested by the Turks.
Accounts of peaceful co-existence between Christ’s followers and Muslims. Visit to the Syrian capital where the future is paved with gestures of openness and solidarity among people of different faiths. The story of Salesian nun Carol Tahhan.
It is neither strange nor unusual to see Jordanian Ramadan banquets in Christian homes, in churches or rather in their affiliated schools. This is not a message intended to be conveyed to Jordanians, for we Jordanians know ourselves well and do know the good fruits yielded from the Jordanian soil which have over the years been exuding peace and cordiality. This is merely a message intended to be disseminated to the whole world.
In 1999, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah launched an initiative titled, "Together, Towards a Safe schooling Environment," which aimed at "defusing violence" in schools. This initiative came on the heels of increased teachers' violence against children, which was accompanied by physical and psychological torture, as well as by disciplinary beatings and intimidation.
The Pope refused a one million euro donation from the Argentinian government to Scholas Ocurrentes. In a letter explaining the reasons for refusing the cheque, the Pope invited the foundation not to “slip” into corruption. The curious case of the figure 666, the number of the Beast.
Today,June 13, marked the first ever visit by a Pope to the World Food Programme headquarters: Even hunger is used as a weapon. Pain must not be “bureaucratised”, it is important to remember people’s stories and faces.
Interview with the Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches: “The Pope’s visit to this country will be a pilgrimage in the name of mercy and peace”.
Ahead of Pope Francis’ visit to Armenia from 24 to 26 June, we met Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, who knows the country very well and will be accompanying the Pope on his trip.
Your Eminence, what is the essence of the Pope’s visit to Armenia?
The decision was announced on the evening of 13 June, after the Patriarchates of Antioch, Bulgaria and Georgia pulled out: Moscow has now made the same request as these Churches. The Russians are refusing to attend if the Council is not postponed as requested. But the assembly is to go ahead as scheduled.
