The Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister for Multiculturalism, issued the following statement to congratulate Armenian Catholics on their new patriarch:

“I would like to express my congratulations to the Armenian community in Canada, and in particular to the Armenian Catholic faithful, on the recent selection of Gregory Peter XX Ghabroyan as Catholicos Patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church.

“I was saddened by the recent passing of His Beatitude’s predecessor, Patriarch Nerses Peter XIX, whom I had the honour of meeting with on several occasions to discuss religious freedom and the vitality of the Armenian community in Canada. Our most recent meeting was just one year ago, on a visit to Lebanon and Armenia, during which I also met the Armenian Apostolic Catholicos of Cilicia Aram I, before worshipping at Holy Etchmiadzin and visiting Khor Virap at Mount Ararat. We also met in 2001 on the 1700th anniversary of the “Baptism of the Armenian people”, at a ceremony held by Saint John Paul II to beatify an Armenian Archbishop from the time of the Armenian Genocide, Blessed Ignatius Maloyan.

“On behalf of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, I extend my sincere congratulations to all Armenian Catholics in Canada and to the wider Armenian community. At this difficult time for Armenian Christians and other religious minorities in various parts of the world, may the prayers of Blessed Ignatius and the Armenian martyrs, St Gregory of Narek, and all the Armenian saints guide and strengthen Patriarch Gregoire, all Canadians of Armenian heritage, and the whole Armenian community in Canada and around the world.”