Armenian Catholic Church

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Nerses Bedros XIX, the Patriarch of Armenian Catholic Church

The Armenian Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic church sui juris within the Catholic Church. Historically it represents a schism from the Armenian Apostolic Church. It is in full communion with and subject to the authority of the Pope of Rome as regulated by Eastern canon law.

[edit] History

After the Armenian Apostolic Church, along with the rest of Oriental Orthodoxy, formally broke off communion from the Chalcedonian churches, numerous Armenian bishops made attempts to restore communion with the Catholic Church (Rome). In 1195 during the Crusades, the church of the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia entered into a union with the Roman Catholic Church which lasted until Cilicia was conquered by Mamluks in 1375.

The union was later re-established during the council of Florence in 1439, but did not have any real effects until the year 1740, when Abraham-Pierre I Ardzivian, who earlier became a Catholic, was elected as the patriarch of Sis. Two years later Pope Benedict XIV formally established the Armenian Catholic Church. The headquarters of the patriarchate was later moved to Antelias, north of Beirut. In 1749, the Armenian Catholic Church built a convent in Bzoummar, Lebanon. During the horrific Armenian genocide in 1915–1918 the church scattered among neighboring countries, mainly Lebanon and Syria.

The Armenian Catholic Church can also refer to the church formed by Armenians living in Poland in 1620 after the union of Leopolis by Mikołaj (Nicholas) Torosowicz, which has since established bonds with the older Armenian Catholic Church. A number of its members migrated to Sweden, which holds its own chapter (see Catholic Church of Sweden).

The current patriarch is Nerses Bedros XIX. The church is one of the Eastern Rite Catholic churches and uses the Armenian Rite and Armenian language in liturgy.

Today there are sizeable Armenian Catholic communities in Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Canada, France, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and the United States.