Pope Francis, The Rome Pope and the head of Catholic Roman Church visited Armenia last week.
The photos of him in Armenia have been spread all over the internet, and this was the main topic of the week, the breaking news. The visit of Rome Pope, who undertook the papacy in 2013, was entitled as the visit to first Christian nation.
Pope stayed in Armenia for 3 days and during these 3 days he did visit many places.
On the very first day he met The President of The Republic of Armenia Serj Sarkisyan and held a meeting with him. After that he was taken to Echmiadzin, the Armenian Church residency, where he also had meeting with the Armenian colleague Garegin. During the second day of his visit Rome Pope went to Gyumri, the second largest city of Armenia, and had a huge ceremony there, by his calls for peace and love. Next he went to the Republic Square where the public watched him and where he had a wonderful encouraging speech, by speaking for peace in Nagorno Karabakh, and once again calling out all the nations in the world to accept the Armenian genocide.
Then, on the third and last day, Pope went to the religious center of Armenia, Echmiadzin, and had a wonderful mass there. He passed through the crowed who anxiously was waiting for him. The next destination was Khor Virap, another important place for religious people. The entry in KHOR VIRAP was really restricted so only 2 people from press were able to be there. HOWEVER we have wonderful photos of him there.
The aim of Pope Francis’ visit to Armenia was to demonstrate how important Armenia and Armenian nation is to the whole world and especially to Christian world. It is a country which has touched the holy book first, as Pope Francis said, and that Armenians are treasure.
Pontiff’s wish was to see the mount Ararat, the Biblical mountain, which was described in Holy book, Bible, and where the Noah’s ark landed. He was inspired by mountain Ararat and was very delighted to see it.
Rome Pope was welcomed in Armenia by not traditional bread and salt, but Armenian bread, lavash, and Armenian apricot, which popular in the world and labeled as something purely of Armenian origin.
There was much confusion why Rome Pope Francis called Armenian nation the first Christian nation. Some journalists commented on this, saying that the king can be Christian it does not mean that the nation is also nation. As an answer to this question Pope’s speaker said that Armenians are the first Christian nation because they behaved like Christian during their long lasting and difficult, harsh history.
The Rome Pope Francis’ visit to Armenia was a phenomenal, historical visit, which is marked in our memories and will be inseparable part of our history.
All Armenian waited for this for a long time, and Armenia got the blessing from Rome Pope and he, in his turn, was waiting for this visit much. The 3 day trip was wonderful and was aimed to the establishment of peace, love and to the contribution of the idea of coexistence of different nations.
