MOSCOW, April 3 (Itar-Tass) – Catholics of Russia, Ukraine and Armenia mourn the decease of Pope John Paul II.
Believers of the easternmost Catholic eparchy – St. Joseph with the center in Irkutsk – also mourn the death of the Pontiff. The eparchy unites more than 40 parishes over the territory between the Yenisei River and the Chukchi Peninsula as well as Sakhalin Island. All parishes performed offices for the dead in the mooring.
The head of the eparchy, Bishop Kirill Klimovich, addressed a message to Catholics of Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East, saying as follows: “We are amazed at courage, with which the Pontiff bore sufferings from the serious ailment and at bright calm with which he met his last hour. We deeply mourn this event. The grief of the loss is heavy. But death loses its macabre and frightening image for people in whose hearts Christ lives.”
A mass for the rest of the soul of Pope John Paul II was performed at the Assumption of the Holy Virgin Church in the city of Kursk. It was conducted by Reverend Andzhei. The divine service was attended not only by Catholics from Kursk and nearby villages, but also by foreign students, studying at Kursk higher educational establishments.
Students from Cameroon, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Nigeria, Lebanon and India come for the mass every Sunday. The present mass for the Pontiff’s rest will unite all Catholics of the world and will confirm again love and respect for this man.
Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsin, although not a Catholic, said that “Pope John Paul II was a great man. In the centuries-long line of Roman popes, he stands out markedly. He influenced the course of world history; and, on his tireless pastoral visits across the world, he carried the warmth of Christianity to all”.
The toll of Rome-Catholic and Greek-Catholic churches in Ukraine notified of the Pontiff’s decease. Nearly six million Ukrainian Catholics pray for the rest of the Pope’s soul. Memorial services are conducted also at Ukrainian orthodox churches. “The tragic news of the end of the terrestrial life of Pope John Paul II filled with profound grief the hearts of Ukrainians who prayed for his health,” says a letter by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the dean of the College of Cardinals. “The bright image of the holy Father will remain for good in the memory of Ukrainian citizens, Orthodox and Catholic parishioners as well as believers of other confessions and all who share Christian values.”
The Armenian Catholic church in Yerevan held a mass for the rest of the Pope’s soul. Around 100 people who gathered at the small church, listened to Suffragan Bishop Vartan Keshishyan. The church, located in Kanaker, the northern suburb of Yerevan, was sanctified by Pope John Paul II on September 27, 2001 who came there to mark the 1700th anniversary of proclaiming Christianity as Armenia’s state religion. The Armenia Catholic Church is one of 21 Eastern Catholic churches, existing in Catholicism. According to the church, there are 150,000 Armenian Catholics in the republic. However, in the opinion of analysts, the figure is ten times higher than the real number of belivers.
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