Pope Francis has sent a video message to the people of Armenia, ahead of his visit to the country on June 24-26.
"I invite you to pray for this Apostolic journey. With the help of God, I come among you to fulfill, as the motto of the trip says, a 'visit to the first Christian country'. I come as a pilgrim, in this Jubilee Year, to draw on the ancient wisdom of your people and to steep myself the sources of your faith, which is steadfast as your famous crosses carved in stone," he said.
"Your history and the events of your beloved people stir in me admiration and sorrow: admiration, for you have found in Jesus’ Cross and in your own wits, the wherewithal ever to pick yourselves up and start anew – even after sufferings that are among the most terrible in human memory; pain, for the tragedies that your fathers have lived in their flesh," he added.
