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Pope Francis - Copyright AGF s.r.l. / REX
World News

Pope arrives in Armenia "to preach the message of Jesus Christ"

by Hannah Tooley

He will spend three days in the country and has already received a letter from neighbouring Azerbaijan, urging Pope Francis to call upon the Armenian government to end its illegal occupation of parts of the country.

It wants the pontiff to condemn the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding Azerbaijani provinces and make the country take public responsibility for the Khojali massacre in which more than 600 people were killed in 1992.

Earlier in the week the Pope sent a video message to the people of Armenia, saying: "With the help of God, I come among you to fulfil, as the motto of the trip says, a 'visit to the first Christian country'.

"I come as a pilgrim, in this Jubilee Year, to draw on the ancient wisdom of your people and to steep myself with the sources of your faith, which is steadfast as your famous crosses carved in stone."

The video goes on to address the conflicts that Armenia has been involved with in the past.

Pope Francis says: "Let us not allow the painful memories to take possession of our hearts; even in the face of the repeated assaults of evil, let us not give ourselves up.

"Let us rather do as Noah, who, after the flood, never tired of looking to heaven and releasing the dove again and again, until one day it came back to him, bringing a tender olive leaf: it was the sign that life could resume and [that] hope must rise.

"As servant of the Gospel and a messenger of peace I desire to come among you, to support every effort towards peace - and I would share our steps on the pathway of reconciliation, which generates hope."

Peter Williams, a commentator from Catholic Voices, told Premier while it might not make any practical change but it is a big symbolic gesture.

He said: "He's going to go into these three countries, he's going to spread the Gospel, he's going to preach the message of Jesus Christ, he's going to help reconciliation of communities and hopefully that'll contribute to the ongoing growth of these countries in peace and reconciliation."

"I think it shows solidarity with the Armenians, who have been an oppressed and persecuted minority of people at various stages in recent history, and most sadly because of the genocide that the Turks perpretrated against them.

"It's brave, certainly for the Holy Father to go to Armenia, to affirm not only the Catholics who live in Armenia, but to show solidarity with the Armenians themselves, and particularly with the Armenian Orthodox."

The pope will travel to Georgia and Azerbaijan following his visit to Armenia.

Listen to Premier's Hannah Tooley speak to Peter Williams here:

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