THE MEETING BETWEEN POPE JOHN PAUL AND PATRIARCH ALEKSEI COULD BE HELD IN ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net - YEREVAN, March 26. /Mediamax/. Vatican officials suggest that the most likely occasion for a meeting between the heads of the Rome Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church could be in Armenia.

In the off the record interview to the Catholic World News agency they noted that Armenia is regarded as "neutral territory." They also say that the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Karekin II, enjoys good relations with both the Vatican and the Moscow Patriarchate, so that he might serve as an ideal intermediary in setting up the meeting.

Moscow's Catholic Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz and Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Kirill have announced on March 23 that the meeting between Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Aleksei II of Moscow "should be truly historic, and not merely a protocol meeting."

It is supposed that John Paul II will visit Armenia in autumn 2001 and will take part in the celebrations dedicated to the 1700th anniversary of adoption of Christianity in Armenia. --0--