This morning, card. Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, left for Armenia, where he will land at 3 pm at "Zvartnots" international airport of Yerevan. The news was relayed today by the newsroom of the Holy See, "with some change of plan", due to the conflicts of the last few days between different political parties, which had nearly caused a postponement of the trip; the visit to Azerbaijan has instead been confirmed on 6 March. Today at 3.40 pm, in the nearby Etchmiadzin, the Vatican Secretary of State will meet His Holiness Karekin II, catholicos of all Armenians, and with him he will say a common prayer in the Cathedral at 5 pm. Afterwards (6.30 pm) he will meet the Prime Minister, Serzh Sargsyan, in Yerevan, then Bertone will go to Etchmiadzin again for a dinner hosted by Karekin II. Tomorrow, after a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vartan Oskanian, Bertone will visit the churches and institutions of the small Catholic community of Armenia, from Panik to Gyumri and Ashotsk. In the evening, he will go back to Yerevan and will dine with the Prime Minister. On March 6, after visiting the nuns of Mother Teresa and after Mass, Bertone will visit the memorial to the Armenian victims; at 11 am, he will meet the President of the Republic of Armenia, Robert Kocharin, after which (1 pm) he will leave Yerevan.
