His Holiness Karekin II, the supreme patriarch and catholicos, is to the world's 7 million Armenian Christians what the pope is to Roman Catholics. He became the catholicos last fall when his predecessor died. Arizona's Armenian community has 1,200 families. In A.D. 301, Armenia became the first republic to adopt Christianity as its official religion. This year has been proclaimed a jubilee year for the church.
Church members are enthusiastic about the visit.
The catholicos visited Arizona six years ago as an archbishop. All rights reserved.