Attending Holy Mass with Pope Francis

One of the most unexpected events to occur in my Peace Corps experience in Armenia was having the opportunity to see Pope Francis give Holy Mass in my city of Gyumri. The Pope was on a 3-day visit to Armenia and one of the stops just happened to be in my city. One of the reasons the Pope chose to speak in Gyumri was due to the fact that during the Soviet era, only two churches were open in Armenia. The first church was the Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin located in the Vagharshapat region and the second was the Seven Wounds of the Holy Mother of God Cathedral located in the north of Vardanants Square in Gyumri.  

I was able to get a ticket through my host family. One of my host family members worked with one of the local Catholic NGOs and was able to secure an extra ticket for me that way. I had never been to a Holy Mass before but have always been curious and interested in seeing an event like this.

 Although I am not a Catholic myself, I do find Pope Francis to be a captivating figure and a great ambassador of the Catholic faith. His down to earth persona and humble characteristics is quite a surprise from someone with such an esteemed title. I’ve never been impressed with people who live behind their titles and I found it refreshing to see someone of such importance behave like an ordinary and compassionate soul.

The Holy Mass was being held in Vardanants Square, located in the central area of Gyumri. A lot of preparation went into to the visit by Pope Francis. The main highway from the south to Gyumri was neatly manicured and numerous welcome signs were placed all over the city. There’s no way you didn’t know what was happening on June 25th, 2016 in Gyumri. I was not alone since there were quite a handful of other Peace Corps Volunteers there to witness Pope Francis’ visit. There were about a dozen of us and due to our different types of clothing and ethnicity we were spotted out quickly by local media for a quick interview. I even got a chance to be interviewed by a television reporter and was asked what motivated me as an American citizen to want to see Pope Francis.

Our group got there a few hours early to secure a spot and the level of security was intense. Once we got through the security checks we were given special items commemorating the Holy Mass. We were given a program of the events written in Italian and Armenian, an official hat, scarf, and bottled holy water! I’ve always wondered when I saw the large crowds of Holy Masses how everyone was wearing the same items. Now I know why.

The Holy Mass was given in Italian and on the big screens were the Armenian translations. The entire ceremony lasted only a couple of hours and it was nice to see the crowd attentive to the message being delivered by Pope Francis, Catholicos-Patriarch Father Grigor Bishop Kaproyan of the Armenian Catholic Church, and leader of the Armenian Catholics Rafayel Rafayel Archbishop Minasyan.

The Holy Mass was an interesting event to attend. I don’t know the exact number of attendees but by the looks of it, it was a few thousand. Calls to think and act about the suffering of the less fortunate and engage in a peace dialogue in times of conflict will always resonate with me and was one of the reasons why I decided to join the Peace Corps again.

Happy traveling.