During the inauguration of the St. Gregory of Narek statue, the blessing ceremony of the statue by Pope Francis took place in Vatican, Armenpress reports.
After the blessing ceremony, Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II and Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I delivered prayers.
At the end of the ceremony Pope Francis bowed before the statue of St. Gregory of Narek.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and numerous guests attended the ceremony.
The inauguration comes three years after Pope Francis proclaimed the Armenian saint Doctor of the Church during a mass dedicated to the Armenian Genocide centennial in the St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican – again in April.
The statue symbolizes the high level of relations between the Catholic and Armenian Apostolic Churches, relations which were strengthened even more by the Papal visit to Armenia in 2016.