Pope Benedict XVI dedicated the north patio of St. Peter's basilica to St. Gregory the Illuminator, who brought the Christian faith to Armenia, in a brief ceremony on February 22.Patriarch Nerses Bedros XIX of Cilicia, the head of the Armenian Catholic Church, joined the Pontiff for the ceremony.
Pope Benedict recalled that in January 2005-- just a few weeks before he was stricken with his final illness-- Pope John Paul II dedicated a statue of St. Gregory on the same patio.
St. Gregory the Illuminator died in 332. Under his influence, King Tiridates embraced Christianity in the 4th century, and Armenia became the first nation to recognize Christianity as its religion - 75 years before the Roman empire took the same step.
Pope Benedict remarked that "this great saint has made the Armenians, for more than 17 centuries, a Christian people, and more, the first officially Christian people." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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