For the first time in a decade, Pope Francis met with His Holiness Aram I, the leader of the Armenian Church of Cilicia, on Wednesday. This church has jurisdiction over approximately 800,000 Armenian Christians in Lebanon, Syria, Cyprus, Iran, and Greece.
The meeting, which occurred in Pope's private office, was held behind closed doors, and the Vatican has not provided additional details. The last meeting between Pope Francis and Aram I took place at the Vatican in June 2014.
At that time, Pope Francis expressed gratitude for Aram I's efforts towards Christian unity and emphasized the importance of venerating the suffering of Armenian martyrs.
The Armenian Church of Cilicia is part of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which has over 5 million members globally. Besides its presence in the mentioned regions, it also has two dioceses and 34 parishes in the United States, and six parishes in Canada.
Although in full communion with the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Armenian Church of Cilicia operates independently from the Apostolic Church in Armenia.
Armenia was the first nation to adopt Christianity as its state religion when King Tiridates III was converted by St. Gregory the Illuminator in the early fourth century. In 506, an Armenian synod rejected the Christological doctrines of the Council of Chalcedon (451), which no Armenian bishop attended. S
ince then, the Armenian Church declared its autonomy under the leadership of a patriarch titled Catholicós, originally a designation for heads of Christian communities outside the Roman Empire.
In December 1996, St. John Paul II and Catholicos Karekin II of all Armenians signed a joint declaration acknowledging the shared origins of the Armenian and Roman Catholic Churches.
His Holiness Aram I, born in Beirut, Lebanon, studied at the Armenian Theological Seminary of Antelias and the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey in Geneva. He has been Catholicos of the Armenian Church of Cilicia since 1995.
Aram I has specialized in the philosophy and history of the Church in the Middle East and founded both the Middle East Council of Churches and the theological dialogue between the Byzantine Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox churches.