Press secretary of the Holy See, Monsignor Federico Lombardi, after the divine mass offered by the Pope in Vardanants Square in Gyumri, referring to appearing of the Pope in the public by popemobile with the Catholicos of Armenia, the Shirak Diocese Michael Bishop Ajapahyan and Archbishop Rafael Minasyan, the leader of Armenian Catholics in Armenia, Georgia, Russia and Eastern Europe, suggested to create such a for the Armenian Patriarch. “The pope loves to make such gestures, and now he invited the Patriarch to travel with him on his popemobile. I even asked my colleagues whether they are not planning to prepare a Catholicos-mobile for our Patriarch to use during the similar important occasion,” – said Federico Lombardi.
Aravot.am asked the Shirak Diocese Michael Bishop Ajapahyan what they think about this offer. “I hear such a thing for the first time, our church does not have such a tradition and has no intention to have one. Our Patriarch and all Patriarchs are people standing next to the people and the flock, and they do not need a Catholicos-mobile or a popemobile to communicate with people. Popemobile is an expensive luxury and the pope does not have one popemobile, he has a whole garage of popemobiles for different occasion and different purposes. So, it is not that the Vatican runs a miserable and poor life, the Vatican is one of the richest powers in the world. The property of the Vatican and the Catholic Church is estimated not by billions or trillions but only God knows what an astronomical sum it is. So, the Pope’s modest living does not mean that the Catholic Church is very poor. And the Pope is one of the richest monarchs in the world but he prefers to live a modest lifestyle, which is his virtue,” – said Michael Bishop.
Nune AREVSHATYAN
