(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis flew back to Italy Sunday evening after his Apostolic Voyage to Armenia. It was the fourteenth international journey of Pope Francis’ pontificate.
The Pope’s plane landed at Rome’s Ciampino Airport a little after 8:30 Sunday evening, after just under four hours of flight time.
Before returning to the Vatican, Pope Francis, as has become customary, paid a brief visit to the Basilica of St Mary Major, where he prayed before the icon of Mary, Salus Populi Romani (Protectress of the Roman People), in thanksgiving for the happy outcome of the Apostolic Voyage.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis spoke on the Armenian genocide, the relation of the Church to homosexuals, and Britain’s vote last week to leave the European Union, as well as a host of other topics in a wide-ranging press conference on his flight back to Rome following his Apostolic Voyage to Armenia.
Sunday’s in-flight press conference began with questions about the Apostolic Voyage to Armenia that Pope Francis had just concluded. Asked about his message for Armenia for the future, the Holy Father spoke about his hopes and prayers for justice and peace, and his encouragement that leaders are working to that end. In particular, he talked of the work of reconciliation with Turkey and with Azerbaijan. The Pope will be travelling to Azerbaijani later this year.
Pope Francis also spoke about his use of the word ‘genocide,’ acknowledging the legal import of the expression, but explaining that this was the term commonly in use in Argentina for the massacre of Armenians during the first World War.
During the press conference, Pope Francis also addressed a number of religious and ecumenical issues. Speaking about the controversy that arose from remarks by the Prefect of the Pontifical Household, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, who in a speech earlier this month had spoken of a shared “Petrine ministry,” Pope Francis insisted there was only one Pope, while praising the pope emeritus as a “great man of God.”
About the Pan-Orthodox Council, which concluded Sunday in Crete, the Pope said, “A step was made forward . . . I think the result was positive.” In response to a question about upcoming commemorations of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant “Reformation,” Pope Francis said, “I think perhaps this is also the right moment for us not only to remember the wounds on both sides, but also to recognize the gifts of the Reformation.” He also had words of praise for Martin Luther. The Pope praying and working together are important for fostering unity.
Pope Francis also answered a question about women deacons, and his decision to form a commission to study the issue. He said he was surprised and annoyed to hear that his remarks were interpreted to mean that the Church had opened the door to deaconesses. “This is not telling the truth of things,” he said. But, he continued, “women’s thought is important,” because they approach questions differently from men. “One cannot make a good decision without listening to women.
Reporters also questioned the Pope about recent events, including the recent “Brexit” vote in Britain. He said he had not had time to study the reasons for the British vote to leave the European Union, but noted that the vote showed “divisions,” which could also be seen in other countries. “Fraternity is better, and bridges are better than walls,” he said, but he acknowledged that there are “different ways of unity.” Creativity and fruitfulness are two key words for the European Union as it faces new challenges.
The secular press, meanwhile, latched onto remarks Pope Francis made concerning the Church’s relationship to homosexuals. Insisting once again that homosexuals must not be discriminated against, the Pope said that the Church should apologize to homosexuals and ask forgiveness for offending them – but he added, the Church should also ask forgiveness of any groups of persons who had been hurt by Christians who do not live up to the Gospel. There will always be good and bad Christians in the Church, he said, citing Christ’s parable of the wheat and the weeds. “All of us are saints, because all of us have the Holy Spirit. But we are all sinners, [and] I [am] the first.”
Finally, answering a question from Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Pope Francis reflected on his visit to the Memorial at Tzitzernakaberd, and his upcoming journey to Poland, which will include a visit to Auschwitz. The Pope said that in such places, he likes to reflect silently, “alone,” praying that the Lord might grant him “the grace of crying.”
At the conclusion of the press conference, Pope Francis thanked the reporters for their hard work and goodness.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Director of the Vatican Press Office has strongly dismissed Turkish accusations that Pope Francis adopted a “Crusades” mentality when he used the word “genocide” to describe the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians a century ago.
Fr. Federico Lombardi SJ was answering questions by journalists reporting on the papal journey in Armenia.
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :
The questions pertained to an angry statement late Saturday by Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli following the Pope’s use of the word “genocide” when referring to the Ottoman-era slaughter of Armenians.
Turkey in fact rejects the term genocide, saying the 1.5 million deaths cited by historians is an inflated figure and that people died on both sides as the Ottoman Empire collapsed amid World War I.
Nurettin Canikli called the Pope’s comments “greatly unfortunate” and said they bore the hallmarks of the “mentality of the Crusades.”
But responding to Canikli’s comments, Fr Lombardi said that nothing in Francis’ texts or actions had suggested a Crusades-like mentality or spirit.
“His is a spirit of dialogue”- Lombardi said – “of building peace, of building bridges and not walls.”
“The Pope – he added – is not doing Crusades”, “he has said no words against the Turkish people”.’
And Lombardi underlined the fact that Francis’ three-day visit to the Orthodox nation was one of peace and reconciliation with repeated calls for unity with Armenia’s Oriental Orthodox Church, a visit to the nation’s closed western border with Turkey and a joint declaration with the Apostolic Church leader.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis left the Armenian capital, Yerevan, on Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of his three day pastoral visit to the Caucasian nation. The Alitalia plane carrying the Pope and his entourage back to Rome took off following a farewell ceremony on the airport runway with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, alongside Catholicos Karekin II, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church and leaders of the small Catholic community there.
The Pope was due to arrive back in Rome shortly before 9pm local time at the conclusion of this 14th international papal journey.
During the visit, the Pope signed a common declaration with Patriarch Karekin giving thanks for progress towards Christian unity, while also appealing for peace in the world. He visited the nation’s genocide memorial museum, took part in an ecumenical prayer vigil for peace, travelled to the northern city of Gyumri and to the monastery of Khor Virap, close to the border with Turkey, where the country’s rulers became the first to adopt Christianity as a state religion in the year 301.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis ended his three day Apostolic journey to Armenia, his 14th abroad with a visit to ‘Khor Virap’ monastery at the foot of Mount Ararat. A significant site linked to the conversion of this nation to Christianity.
Veronica Scarisbrick reports:
The red brick monastery of Khor Virap at the foot of Mount Ararat where tradition holds that Noah’s ark came to rest after the floods is one of Armenia’s most sacred sites. It’s here that the most memorable image of Pope Francis’s visit to Armenia played out.
That of the Pope and the Patriarch standing out against the skyline in unison in the shadow of the snow-capped Mount, as together they release two white doves which flutter into the evening light before soaring up high. A striking gesture which holds within it a symbol of unity and peace.
By contrast the name of the monastery provides a sinking feeling as it means ‘deep dungeon’. And while dark and musty dungeons really exist here, some sinking deep into the ground, over six metres under one of the Chapels of the monastery complex, what really matters is that it was in one of these dungeons, often referred to as a well, that Saint Gregory the Illuminator, was held prisoner for thirteen lonng years before bringing about the conversion of the King in 301, so at the beginning of the fourth century. A conversion which led to Armenia becoming the first nation ever to adopt Christianity as a State religion.
And a conversion which was no doubt on the Pope’s mind as together with the Patriarch he made his way up two narrow flights of stairs to the room known as the ‘Well of Saint Gregory’. They were there to light a candle before making their way to the nearby Chapel to pray: the Patriarch in Armenian and the Pope in Italian.
Before leaving this land which Pope Francis has described as ‘beloved’ he expressed the idea that it was a grace to find himself on these heights where, beneath the gaze of Mount Ararat, the very silence seems to speak. And where the ‘khatchkar’ – the stone crosses – recount a singular history bound up with rugged faith and immense suffering. A history, he went on to say, replete with magnificent testimonies to the Gospel, to which you the Armenian people are heirs.
Words pronounced a day earlier when he had symbolically watered, once again together with the Patriarch, the seedlings of a vine in a model of Noah’s Ark. New life that grows out of memory.
(from Vatican Radio)…