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LRAPER - PATRIARCH MESROB MET POPE JOHN PAUL II
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ISTANBUL, 27 December (Lraper) -
Invited by His Eminence Cardinal Roger Etchagaray, the
President of the Pontifical Commission for the Jubilee,
His Beatitude Patriarch Mesrob II of Istanbul and all Turkey
attended the Roman Catholic Christmas and Jubilee Year
celebrations in Rome between 22 and 26 December 1999.
Patriarch Mesrob met His Holiness Pope John Paul II for
a private audience on 23 December. On various occasions,
he also had contacts with Their Eminences Cardinal Roger
Etchagaray, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Cardinal Edward Idris
Cassidy, Cardinal Lorenzo Antonetti, Patriarch-Emeritus
John Peter XVIII Kasparian of the Armenian Catholics,
Their Excellencies Bishop Walter Kasper, Bishop Rino
Fisichella, Ambassador Altan Gueven of Turkey,
Ambassador Armen Sarkissian of Armenia, the Very
Revd. Mons. Vincenzo Paglia, the Very Revd. Mons.
Elia Der Yeghiayan, Minister General of the Franciscans
Fr. Augustino Gardin, the Superior of the Sacred Convent
in Assisi Fr. Guilio Berrettoni, the Director of the
Franciscan Ecumenical Center in Assisi Fr. Maximilian
Mizzi.
Patriarch Mesrob attended the opening of the Holy Door
of Saint Peter Basilica by His Holiness Pope John Paull II
and the Christmas liturgy that followed. He also attended
the opening of the Jubilee Door at Saint John Lateran
Cathedral by the Pope and the following solemn vespers.
He spoke to a large crowd of young members of the
Community of Saint Egidio in Santa Maria Basilica in
Trastevere, visited the Basilica of San Bartolomeo on
the islet of Tiberino, attended and spoke at the Armenian
Catholic Liturgy at San Nicola di Tolentino and participated
in the Christmas Liturgy at the Basilica in Assisi.
Returning to his Patriarchal See in Istanbul, His Beatitude
the Patriarch expressed his special thanks to the Revd.
Fr. Johann Bonny of the Pontifical Council for Promoting
Christian Unity, the Revd. Fr. Marco Gnavi and those members
of the Community of Saint Egidio who assisted him during
his pilgrimage and visit to the Church of Rome.
Evaluating his visit, the Patriarch said, "It was first and
foremost a pilgrimage to a holy apostolic site, where, together
with the Pope and numerous other friends, I had the chance to
pray on the threshold of the Third Millenium. It was also good to
renew fraternal ties with the Church of Rome. Given the fact that
his health was so frail, it was sort of a miracle that His Holiness the
Pope could undertake such long services on the occasion of the
Opening of the Holy Doors. The doors have been opened also
to a new period which can be one of unity for all Christians. I
have always been at the service of church unity, personally, and
from within the unity of the Armenian Church as a whole. Not
just persons or leaders by themselves, but the Church as a whole
should be engaged in ecumenical spirituality and relations. And
this is the challenge; an educational process is necessary."
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