The Community Sant’Egidio hosted the 36th edition of its annual “Spirit of Assisi” event in Rome from 23 to 25th October. A three- day peace summited welcomed presidents, religious leaders, and various high-ranking authorities. Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Representative of the Armenian Church to the Holy See and the Pontifical Legate of the Western Europe also was invited to taken part of the activities of this...

On October 11th Pope Francis presided over the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council, commonly known as the Second Vatican Council. Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Representative of the Armenian Church to the Holy See was invited to be present to this historic event. The Second Vatican Council, was opened on 11 October 1962 by Pope John XXIII and was closed...

A newly-built Armenian church has been opened in Malaga over the weekend, becoming the first Armenian church in Spain. The Vicar of the Pontifical Legation in Spain and Portugal, Very Rev. Father Shnorhk Sargsyan attended the event, which was presided over by archbishop Khajag Barsamian, the Pontifical Legate of the Western Europe and Representative of the Armenian Church to the Holy See. At the end of the ceremony, the...

Archbishop Khajag Barsamian was invited by the Gulbenkian Foundation, to take part in the official ceremonies on the occasion of the Founder’s Day on 20 July in Lisbon. During his visit to the Gulbenkian Foundation on July 20, Archbishop Barsamian first had the opportunity to meet with one of the Board members Martin Essayan (the grandson of Calouste Gulbenkian’s sister Rita) and Mr. Razmig Panossian, the...

The eighteenth meeting of the Joint International  Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches took place in Rome from June 20-24, 2022 and was hosted by the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. It was chaired jointly by His Eminence Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and by His Grace Bishop Kyrillos, Coptic Orthodox Auxiliary...

Archbishop Barsamian was invited by Ambassador Sahak Sargsyan, Armenia’s permanent representative to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization, to participate an event, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the BSEC and the 20th anniversary of Armenia’s participation in this body on June 9, held on a large scale at the Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall of Istanbul. Approximately 1,000 people attended, including...

On June 9, Archbishop Barsamian went to Ankara with Patriarch Mashalian to meet with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to discuss celebrating the 850th anniversary of St. Nerses IV Shnorhali next year in historic Hromgla, Cilicia (today called Rumkale in Turkish), located on a promontory overlooking the Euphrates River. St. Nerses served as catholicos there. Archbishop Barsamian explained that some months ago he...

On May 16, the American University of Armenia (AUA) Political Science and International Affairs (PSIA) program hosted His Eminence Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, the Pontifical Legate of the Western Europe and Representative of the Armenian Apostolic Church to the Holy See. The guest lecture was organized as part of PSIA Foreign Policy Analysis graduate course to discuss the foreign relations of the Mother See of Holy...

On March 2, at the Papal General Audience in Vatican, Archbishop Khajag Barsamian presented Professor Abraham Terian to His Holiness Pope Francis. Prof. Terian had the opportunity to present to His Holiness his three new publications including “From the Depth of the Heart: Annotated Translations of the Prayers of St. Gregory of Narek”. The Pope expressed his appreciation to Prof. Terian and gave his blessings to him and...

 On February 28, on the occasion of the day of remembrance of St. Gregory of Narek (or Grigor Narekatsi in Armenian) in accordance to the Roman Catholic Church calendar, an ecumenical prayer service and a special presentation took place at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome. The ecumenical service was presided over by His Eminences Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of Pontifical Council for Promoting...