Pope John Paul II Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==== Armenian Apostolic Church ==== John Paul II was determined to maintain good relations with the [[Armenian Apostolic Church]], whose separation from the [[Holy See]] dated to Christian antiquity. In 1996, he brought the Catholic Church and the [[Armenian Apostolic Church]] closer by agreeing with Armenian Archbishop [[Karekin II]] on Christ's nature.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://articles.latimes.com/1999/apr/24/local/me-30550 |title=Pope to Make First Visit to Armenia |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=24 April 1999 |access-date=6 December 2014|agency=Associated Press }}</ref> During an audience in 2000, John Paul II and [[Karekin II]], by then the [[Catholicos of All Armenians]], issued a joint statement condemning the [[Armenian genocide]]. Meanwhile, the pope gave Karekin the relics of [[Gregory the Illuminator|St. Gregory the Illuminator]], the first head of the Armenian Church that had been kept in [[Naples]], Italy, for 500 years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atour.com/~aahgn/news/20001111b.html |title=Pope John Paul II Recognises Armenian Genocide |publisher=Atour.com |date=10 November 2000 |access-date=6 December 2014}}</ref> In September 2001, John Paul II went on a three-day pilgrimage to [[Armenia]] to take part in an ecumenical celebration with [[Karekin II]] in the newly consecrated St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral in Yerevan. The two Church leaders signed a declaration remembering the victims of the Armenian genocide.<ref>George Weigel, ''The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II β The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy'', p. 283, Doubleday Religion (2010), {{ISBN|978-0-385-52480-3}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page