Pope and Catholicos water tree in symbolic gesture for Armenian diaspora
(Vatican Radio) In a symbolic gesture, Pope Francis and the Catholicos of all Armenians Karekin II watered a tree symbolizing Armenia’s many Christians living in the diaspora so that they may bear fruit, signifying new life. The two Church leaders took up amphoras at the end of Saturday’s ecumenical prayer for peace in Yerevan and poured water over the earth which had been gathered by children residents of Armenia and elsewhere across the world and placed in a vessel resembling Noah’s Ark.
Armenia is home to Mount Ararat where, according to legend, Noah landed his Ark after the Great Floods.
Tens of thousands of Armenia’s Christians fled the country in the 1900s during Ottoman massacres. On Saturday, Francis paid his respects at Armenia’s imposing genocide memorial and greeted descendants of survivors of the 1915 slaughter.
In the memorial’s guest book, the Pope wrote: “Here I pray with sorrow in my heart, so that a tragedy like this never again occurs, so that humanity will never forget and will know how to defeat evil with good…May God protect the memory of the Armenian people. Memory should never be watered-down or forgotten. Memory is the source of peace and the future.”