ARMENIA: POPE JOHN PAUL II SAYS THE MODERN WORLD MUST CHOOSE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL

Record ID: 648126

  • Title: ARMENIA: POPE JOHN PAUL II SAYS THE MODERN WORLD MUST CHOOSE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL
  • Date: 27th September 2001
  • Summary: (U3) ETCHMIADZIN, ARMENIA (SEPTEMEBER 27, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE PAN ACROSS CROWD GATHERED FOR MASS; SV POPE JOHN PAUL II WAVING (2 SHOTS) 0.19 2. CU BANNER READING POPE JOHN PAUL WE LOVE YOU 0.24 3. MV HEAD OF ARMENIAS CHURCH GAREGIN II AND POPE GREETING EACH OTHER, POPE KISSES GAREGIN 0.40 4. GV PEOPLE WAVING FLAGS 0.49 5. MV WOMAN KNEELING AND PRAYING 0.53 6. SV (SOUNDBITE) (English) POPE SAYING: "Remember that the bishop of Rome came to honour the faith of the Armenian people, among whom you are especially dear to him. He has come to celebrate your faithfulness and courage and to praise God who has granted you to see the day of freedom." 1.19 7. MV CROWD 1.29 8. VARIOUS CROWD 9. SV POPE KISSING BIBLE 1.42 10. MV RED CROSS WORKERS IN CROWD 1.48 11. SV POPE IN CEREMONY 2.01 12. SV GAREGIN ADDRESSING CROWD; SV POPE; LV CROWD (4 SHOTS) 2.27 14. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) WOMAN AT MASS, ROSA GREGORYAN SAYING: " Here something special is happening a sort of merging of the Armenian and Catholic churches. We arrived here to greet the Pope and to celebrate the 17th century of the adoption of christianity in Armenia." 15. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) MAN ATTENDING MASS ROBIK PETRSOYAN SAYING: "This is an important event for the Armenian Catholics and we are so happy because we feel as though he himself (the Pope) sent us an invitation." 2.58 16. SLV/SV PEOPLE RECEIVING HOLY COMMUNION FROM POPE; SVS OTHERS FROM PRIEST (4 SHOTS) 3.41 17. MV CROWD 3.48 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 12th October 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ETCHMIADZIN, ARMENIA
  • Country: Armenia
  • Reuters ID: LVA5SEYV8Q7APY1GHD7SWHL281QJ
  • Story Text: Pope John Paul has joined the head of Armenia's Church
    in challenging the modern world to choose between good and
    evil, saying it was the only way to seek a solution to global
    problems.



    Pope John Paul said on Thursday (September 27) that the
    modern world must choose between good and evil and urged
    Christians to be faithful to their beliefs, even if that means
    paying a high price.

    "Particularly today, the complexities and challenges of
    the international situation require a choice between good and
    evil, darkness and light, humanity and inhumanity, truth and
    falsehood," the Pope said in a joint statement signed with
    Armenia's Garegin II.

    The statement signed at the end of a mass at Etchmiadzin,
    the Armenian Church's "Holy City" on the edge of the capital
    Yerevan, did not made any specific reference to tensions
    following the September 11 attacks in the United States.

    But a major theme of the Pope's six-day trip, which took
    him first to mostly Muslim Kazakhstan and then to Armenia, the
    world's first Christian state, has been peace between
    religions.

    In Kazakhstan, he spoke of the Catholic Church's respect
    for Islam, and in Armenia he has called for reconciliation
    among Christian denominations.

    At a morning mass on the final day of the trip, the
    gold-cloaked Pope preached to a 10,000-strong crowd of both
    Catholics and followers of the Armenian Apostolic Church,
    which broke away from the Vatican in the sixth century.

    The 81-year-old Pontiff has looked extremely tired at
    times during the trip but has held up relatively well.

    The Pope spoke of Armenia's violent history of invasion
    and oppression, which left millions of its people scattered
    across the world.

    The two leaders' joint statement referred to the killings
    of Armenians in the early 20th century by Ottoman Turk armies,
    which Armenia claims was a genocide, and the suffering of some
    Armenians under 70 years of Soviet rule.

    "The extermination of a million and a half Armenian
    Christians, in what is generally referred to as the first
    genocide of the 20th century, and the subsequent annihilation
    of thousands under the former totalitarian regime are
    tragedies that still live in the memory of the present day
    generation," the joint written statement said.

    The question is highly charged, as Turkey firmly denies
    the charge of genocide. It disputes the number of Armenians
    killed and says both sides suffered during fighting as the
    Ottoman Empire collapsed during World War One.

    The Pope has stopped just short of speaking the word
    genocide directly in connection with the Armenians.

    Allegations of genocide, sponsored by pressure groups from
    among Armenia's diaspora of some seven million, have been
    raised in legislatures around the world. Armenia has demanded
    an apology from its much larger neighbour.


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