• Meeting with the Vicar General of the Armenian Catholic Church in Canada

Meeting with the Vicar General of the Armenian Catholic Church in Canada

July 17, 2015

On Tuesday, July 9, 2015 a delegation representing the Armenian General Benevolent Union met the Right Reverend Father Kevork Zabarian, Vicar General of the Armenian Catholic Church in USA and Canada. On behalf of the Armenian General Benevolent Union, Mr. Armen Bechakjian expressed heartfelt condolences on the passing of Catholicos Nerses Bedrox XIX to Father Zabarian, the Armenian Catholic Church and community in Canada. Father Zabarian thanked Mr. Armen Bechakjian and the Armenian General Benevolent Union for their kind gesture.

The leader of worldwide Armenian Catholics, Catholicos Nerses Bedros XIX passed away from a heart attack in Lebanon. He was elected and enthroned Catholicos-Patriarch of Armenian Catholics on October 24, 1999, a position he held until his passing away on June 25, 2015.

In June 2001 by the request of His Beatitude and on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the Christening (Baptism) of Armenia, the archbishop of Mardine Ignace Maloyan, martyr of the Armenian genocide of 1915, was proclaimed Blessed by His Holiness Pope John Paul II at St. Peter’s Square in Rome.

In January 2005, by the request of His Beatitude, the Holy Pontiff Jean Paul II gave his blessings on the opening ceremony of the statue of St. Gregory the Illuminator placed in one of the exterior niches of St. Peter basilica.

In February 2008, by the initiative of His Beatitude, the Holy Pontiff Benedict XVI performed the opening ceremony and blessed the St. Gregory the Illuminator square in the presence of ecclesiastic and political figures that came from Rome as well as from all parts of the world.

In April 2015, His Holiness Pope Francis celebrated a special liturgy with His Beatitude in Vatican, marking the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.