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Exclusive interview with Kurt Cardinal Koch, the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Panorama.am: Your Eminence, You were in Armenia five years ago to deliver the message on behalf of the Holy Father and partake at the Centennial events held in Yerevan and
St. Etchmiadzin. How do you see the role of the Church and governments to stop the negation and revisionism of the history and decrease regional tensions, open the door to improved relations and thus contribute to end the cycle of the genocide?.

Cardinal Koch: Church is not a political organization, but a spiritual one continuing on earth the salvific mission of Christ. An important aspect of this mission is a prophetic one, implemented in denouncing injustice and violence whenever it occurs in the present, but also to recall those of the past, as mentioned Pope Francis in his message for the 100th anniversary of “Metz Yeghern”. From this point of view, it is the duty not only of the Armenian people, but also of the universal Church, and in fact of the entire human family, to recall all that has taken place, so that the warnings from this tragedy will protect us from falling into a similar horror, which offends against God and human dignity. On the other side the role of the Church is also to help the process of healing memories. The memory of many Christian communities remains wounded by a history of religious and national conflict. However, when communities on opposing sides of historical divisions are able to come together in a common rereading of history, a reconciliation of memories is made possible.

Panorama.am: Today, the Christion minorities, and in particular Armenians, in war torn countries like Syria, Iraq continue to suffer as a result of the same criminal polices conducted 105 years ago. We witness physical extermination of the Christians and their spiritual and cultural heritage. This situation has already left an irreversible impact on the region’s demography, threatening the Christianity in its historic cradle. What can be done more through ecumenism and interstate relations to stop this violence?

Cardinal Koch: It is true that today Christianity once again has become a martyred faith. Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world: eighty percent of all people who are persecuted because of their beliefs today are Christians. This should be definitely denounced by Church leaders, as Pope Francis and Catholicos Karekin II did in their common declaration of 2016, where both implored the leaders of nations to listen to the plea of millions of human beings who long for peace and justice in the world and who demand respect for their inalienable rights. It should be also recalled that from a spiritual point of view the two leaders recognized that martyrs belong to all the Churches and that their suffering is an “ecumenism of blood” which transcends the historical divisions among Christians, calling them all to promote the visible unity of Christ’s disciples. We indeed believe that these martyrs of our times, who belong to various Churches but who are united by their shared suffering, are a pledge of the unity of Christians, and that this unity is a contribution to the unity of the human family.

Panorama.am: We thank you on behalf of our readers and deeply appreciate Your critical mission aimed at uniting Christians around the world.

Interview by Anna Mkrtchyan