Azerbaijan launched a large-scale attack against Nagorno-Karabakh from September 19, targeting civilian infrastructure and civilians. Civilians were also killed and injured. On September 20, the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities accepted the proposal of the command of the Russian peacekeeping mission regarding the cessation of fire. On September 21, the representatives of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan met in Evlakh. On September 25, the second meeting of the representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan took place in Ivanyan (Khojalu), and on September 29, the third meeting took place in Evlakh. In recent days, citizens forcibly displaced from Nagorno Karabakh are being moved to Armenia.

“Honorable brothers and beloved sons in Christ, Before the Holy Nativity, Christ and His earthly parents knocked at the doors of many and were rejected until they found a cradle in the manger of the cave. All the suffering, deprivation, and neglect that Christ endured is a reflection of all those who are suffering today, being rejected, and being deprived of their most important rights. Therefore, we urge the staff of Armenian Caritas to pass on the light of Christ’s Nativity and the radiant hope and joy to all those living in difficult conditions, because, even in deprivation, Christ gave us the hope of salvation and guided us to eternal life.

The Synod of the Armenian Catholic Church, meeting this week in Rome, has elected Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian as the 21st Catholicos-Patriarch. A ringing of bells in the patriarchal convent of Bzommar, Lebanon, announced the election of the Catholicos-Patriarch of Cilicia of Armenian Catholics: His Beatitude Raphaël François Minassian. He had served until now as the titular archbishop of Caesarea of Cappadocia of the Armenians and Ordinary for the Armenian Catholic faithful of Eastern Europe. His Beatitude Raphaël Bedros XXI is the President of Armenian Caritas. The new Patriarch succeeds Gregory Peter XX Ghabroyan,