SW News: The Holy Father, Pope Francis, has awarded the “Ecclesiastica Communio” (ecclesiastical communion) to the newly elected Patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church, Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian, at the Vatican on Friday, September 23. The Pontiff also shared his joy with the Armenian Catholic prelates who had gathered in Rome to elect the 21st Catholicos-Patriarch of Cilicia to succeed the late Patriarch Gregory Peter XX Ghabroyan, who died in May. The Armenian Catholic Church is one of the 22 sui iuris Oriental Churches that are in full communion with Rome.

In his letter to the new patriarch, Pope Francis mentioned that he still remembers afflictions of the Armenians for the past 1,700 years so much that they have become experts in bearing pain and anguish. This has helped them develop the capacity to flourish and bear fruit wherever they are in the world by imitating the holiness and wisdom of their saints and martyrs, added the Holy Father.

His Holiness said that the Armenian Catholic Church is fully immersed in the affairs of the Armenian people and helps them maintain their culture and traditions all the while remaining faithful to the See of St Peter. Pope Francis also prayed for the intercession and guidance of the All-Holy Mother of God, and Armenian Saint, Gregory of Narek, Doctor of the Church, over the newly elected Armenian Patriarch.

The first round of elections to elect a new patriarch earlier in Beirut, where the Church is headquartered, ended in a fiasco as no candidate obtained the required majority. So, as per canon law, the prelates had to seek papal intervention to convene another Synod and elect a new patriarch.