Catholicos Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia and Pope Leo XIV met today at the Vatican, followed by an official exchange of addresses in the presence of members of Catholicos Aram’s delegation and representatives of the Vatican.

Catholicos Aram I, according to his office, thanked the Vatican for its support regarding the Armenian Genocide, the restoration of the rights of the Armenian people, and for its support of the right of self-determination of the people of Artsakh.

Catholicos Aram I welcomed the Vatican’s support for Lebanon, recalling that Lebanon occupies a special place in the life of the Armenian nation, as it became the center of the renaissance of the Armenian nation following the 1915  Genocide. He also emphasized Lebanon’s importance as a country of Christian-Muslim coexistence.

Stressing the special importance of inter-church relations, His Holiness Aram I stated that the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia would continue its close cooperation with the Vatican and, more broadly, with the Catholic Church in the same ecumenical spirit and commitment.

A joint service was then held in the Urban VIII Chapel of the Apostolic Palace under the presidency of Pope Leo XIV and Catholicos Aram I. The ceremony consisted of prayers and hymns drawn from the liturgical tradition of the Armenian Church.