The Armenian Genocide Memorial complex ( Armenian : Հայոց ցեղասպանության զոհերի հուշահամալիր , Hayots tseghaspanutyan zoheri hushahamalir , or Ծիծեռնակաբերդ, Tsitsernakaberd ) is Armenia 's official memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian genocide , built in 1967 on the hill of Tsitsernakaberd ( Armenian : Ծիծեռնակաբերդ ) in Yerevan . Every year on 24 April, the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day , thousands of Armenians gather at the memorial to commemorate the victims of the genocide. The people who gather in Tsiternakaberd lay fresh flowers out of respect for all the people who died in the Armenian genocide. Over the years, from around the world, a wide range of politicians, artists, musicians, athletes, and religious figures have visited the memorial .
104-486: The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (Հայոց ցեղասպանության թանգարան-ինստիտուտ Hayots tseghaspanut'yan tangaran-institut ) was opened in 1995. The memorial is set on one of three hills along the Hrazdan River that carry the name Tsitsernakaberd (literally " swallow 's fortress"), and was the site of what was once an Iron Age fortress. Most of the above ground traces at this peak have since disappeared, but upon
208-520: A 16 km stretch of the river, from 2 km upstream of the Yerevan wastewater outfalls to 14 km below, is insufficiently aerated to provide a healthy environment for aquatic life. Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( Latin : Ioannes Paulus II ; Polish : Jan Paweł II ; Italian : Giovanni Paolo II ; born Karol Józef Wojtyła , Polish: [ˈkarɔl ˈjuzɛv vɔjˈtɨwa] ; 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005)
312-532: A 70 kilometres (43 mi) stretch of the river with a total installed capacity of 560 MW with mean annual energy generation of around 500 million kilowatt hours; it is the largest hydro-power generating scheme in Armenia. This scheme was implemented between 1930 and 1962. These are small- and medium-size projects built as run-of-the river power plants. The seven power stations are: Sevan HEP with installed capacity of 34.2 MW with two units completed in 1949;
416-535: A US$ 25 million loan from the Asian Development Bank . The river water is polluted by effluent flows from agricultural, commercial, industrial, and residential development, but particularly by the untreated wastewater from Yerevan. This affects the water quality in the river with dissolved oxygen (DO) levels (less than 5% of the saturated dissolved oxygen level) remaining much lower than the permissible limits. A study carried out in 2008 indicates that
520-532: A broad philosophical movement that emphasised the study of conscious experience. The Polish Communist authorities abolished the Faculty of Theology at the Jagiellonian University, thereby preventing him from receiving the degree until 1957. Wojtyła developed a theological approach, called phenomenological Thomism , that combined traditional Catholic Thomism with the ideas of personalism ,
624-692: A decade longer. But as political leaders, they were finished. Visiting his native Poland in 1979, Pope John Paul II struck what turned out to be a mortal blow to its Communist regime, to the Soviet Empire, [and] ultimately to Communism." "When Pope John Paul II kissed the ground at the Warsaw airport he began the process by which Communism in Poland — and ultimately elsewhere in Europe — would come to an end." On later trips to Poland, he gave tacit support to
728-481: A genocide. The memorial is designed by architects Arthur Tarkhanyan, Sashur Kalashyan and artist Hovhannes Khachatryan and was completed in November 1967. The 44-meter stele symbolizes the national rebirth of Armenians. Twelve slabs are positioned in a circle, representing the twelve lost provinces in present-day Turkey . In the center of the circle, at a depth of 1.5 meters, there is an eternal flame dedicated to
832-641: A guest in her family home. Wojtyła enjoyed his holiday in Pomfret, Vermont , kayaking and enjoying the outdoors, as he had done in his beloved Poland. During 1974–1975, Wojtyła served Pope Paul VI as consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity , as recording secretary for the 1974 synod on evangelism and by participating extensively in the original drafting of the 1975 apostolic exhortation , Evangelii nuntiandi . In August 1978, following
936-571: A maximum of 43 millimetres (1.7 in) in May and a minimum of 8 millimetres (0.31 in) during August. The average temperature recorded in the basin varies from −3 °C (27 °F) in January to 26 °C (79 °F) in July with diurnal variation with the lowest night temperature of −15 °C (5 °F) in January and highest day temperature of 44 °C (111 °F) in July. The total flow in
1040-566: A messenger for a restaurant, a manual labourer in a limestone quarry and for the Solvay chemical factory, in order to avoid deportation to Germany. In February 1940, he met Jan Tyranowski who introduced him to the Carmelite spirituality and the " Living Rosary " youth groups. In that same year he had two major accidents, suffering a fractured skull after being struck by a tram and sustaining injuries which left him with one shoulder higher than
1144-526: A number of projects including an English translation of Wojtyła's book Osoba i czyn ( Person and Act ). Person and Act , one of John Paul II's foremost literary works, was initially written in Polish. Tymieniecka produced the English-language version. They corresponded over the years, and grew to be good friends. When Wojtyła visited New England in the summer of 1976, Tymieniecka put him up as
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#17327982022311248-669: A philosophical approach deriving from phenomenology, which was popular among Catholic intellectuals in Kraków during Wojtyła's intellectual development. He translated Scheler's Formalism and the Ethics of Substantive Values . In 1961, he coined "Thomistic Personalism" to describe Aquinas's philosophy. During this period, Wojtyła wrote a series of articles in Kraków's Catholic newspaper, Tygodnik Powszechny ( Universal Weekly ), dealing with contemporary church issues. He focused on creating original literary work during his first dozen years as
1352-903: A pilgrimage to the Holy Land for the Great Jubilee of 2000. During his visit to the Holy Land, John Paul II visited many sites of the Rosary , including the following locations: Bethany Beyond the Jordan (Al-Maghtas) , at the Jordan River , where John the Baptist baptized Jesus; Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity in the town of Bethlehem , the location of Jesus' birth; and
1456-498: A playwright. During this time, his talent for language blossomed, and he learned as many as 15 languages — Polish, Latin , Italian, English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Luxembourgish , Dutch, Ukrainian, Serbo-Croatian , Czech , Slovak , and Esperanto , nine of which he used extensively as pope. In 1939, after invading Poland, Nazi Germany 's occupation forces closed the university. Able-bodied males were required to work, so from 1940 to 1944 Wojtyła variously worked as
1560-414: A pope had been chosen. There had been rumours that the new pope wished to be known as Pope Stanislaus in honour of the Polish saint of the name , but was convinced by the cardinals that it was not a Roman name. When the new pontiff appeared on the balcony, he broke tradition by addressing the gathered crowd: "Dear brothers and sisters, we are saddened at the death of our beloved Pope John Paul I, and so
1664-470: A priest. War, life in the Polish People's Republic , and his pastoral responsibilities all fed his poetry and plays. Wojtyła published his work under two pseudonyms, Andrzej Jawień and Stanisław Andrzej Gruda , to distinguish his literary from his religious writings (issued under his own name), and also so that his literary works would be considered on their own merits. In 1960, Wojtyła published
1768-435: A quarry. Wojtyła eventually took up acting and developed a love for the profession and participated at a local theatre. The linguistically skilled Wojtyła wanted to study Polish at university. Encouraged by a conversation with Adam Stefan Sapieha , he decided to study theology and become a priest. Eventually, Wojtyła rose to the position of Archbishop of Kraków and then a cardinal , both positions held by his mentor. Wojtyła
1872-635: A resolution about "Building a Monument to Perpetuate the Memory of the Victims of the Yeghern of 1915." The construction of the monument began in 1966, during Soviet times, in response to the 1965 Yerevan demonstrations during which one hundred thousand people demonstrated in Yerevan for 24 hours to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the genocide. They demanded the Soviet authorities officially recognise it as
1976-438: A schoolteacher, died from a heart attack and kidney failure in 1929 when Wojtyła was eight years old. His elder sister Olga had died before his birth, but he was close to his brother Edmund, nicknamed Mundek, who was 13 years his senior. Edmund's work as a physician eventually led to his death from scarlet fever , a loss that affected Wojtyła deeply. Wojtyła was baptized a month after his birth, made his First Communion at
2080-610: A sincere giving of himself". He also participated in the assemblies of the Synod of Bishops. On 13 January 1964, Pope Paul VI appointed him Archbishop of Kraków . On 26 June 1967, Paul VI announced Wojtyła's promotion to the College of Cardinals . Wojtyła was named cardinal priest of the titular church of San Cesareo in Palatio . In 1967, he was instrumental in formulating the encyclical Humanae vitae , which dealt with
2184-567: A superb actress." In mid-1938, Wojtyła and his father left Wadowice and moved to Kraków , where he enrolled at the Jagiellonian University . While studying such topics as philology and various languages, he worked as a volunteer librarian and though required to participate in compulsory military training in the Academic Legion , he refused to fire a weapon. He performed with various theatrical groups and worked as
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#17327982022312288-490: A third of my classmates at elementary school in Wadowice were Jews. At secondary school there were fewer. With some I was on very friendly terms. And what struck me about some of them was their Polish patriotism." It was around this time that the young Karol had his first serious relationship with a girl. He became close to a girl called Ginka Beer, described as "a Jewish beauty, with stupendous eyes and jet black hair, slender,
2392-474: A thousand years, he urged a more nuanced view of capital punishment . In his second encyclical Dives in misericordia he stressed that divine mercy is the greatest feature of God, needed especially in modern times. John Paul II was considered a conservative on doctrine and issues relating to human sexual reproduction and the ordination of women. While he was visiting the United States in 1977,
2496-521: A train and stayed with her throughout the journey to Kraków. She later credited Wojtyła with saving her life that day. B'nai B'rith and other authorities have said that Wojtyła helped protect many other Polish Jews from the Nazis. During the Nazi occupation of Poland , a Jewish family sent their son, Stanley Berger, to be hidden by a Gentile Polish family. Berger's biological Jewish parents were killed in
2600-564: Is Zangu , Zanga , Zangi , or Zengy . It was called Zanga in Tsarist Russian nomenclature. Lake Sevan (with 30 rivers contributing to its storage), the largest located in the central part of the country and the Hrazdan River which originates from it, together form the "Sevan-Hrazdan Management Area", which is one of the five sub-basins of the 14 sub-basins of Kura and Araks basins of Armenia. The river originates from
2704-782: Is a major river and the second largest in Armenia . It originates at the northwest extremity of Lake Sevan and flows south through the Kotayk Province and Armenia's capital, Yerevan ; the lake in turn is fed by several streams. In the Ararat plain it joins the Aras river along the border with Turkey . Its waters join the Kura river , before flowing into the Caspian Sea. A series of hydro-electric projects have been constructed on
2808-706: Is designed to memorialize the victims. The Genocide Museum's mission is rooted in the understanding that the Armenian Genocide is important in preventing similar future tragedies, and in keeping with the notion that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. The institute also conducts academic research into the genocide and publishes books on the subject and a journal, International Journal of Armenian Genocide Studies . 40°11′9″N 44°29′26″E / 40.18583°N 44.49056°E / 40.18583; 44.49056 Hrazdan River The Hrazdan ( Armenian : Հրազդան գետ , Hrazdan get )
2912-498: Is the only source of goodness, the only standard of conduct. 'Be not afraid,' he said. Millions shouted in response, 'We want God! We want God! We want God!' The regime cowered. Had the Pope chosen to turn his soft power into the hard variety, the regime might have been drowned in blood. Instead, the Pope simply led the Polish people to desert their rulers by affirming solidarity with one another. The Communists managed to hold on as despots
3016-593: The Angelicum , Wojtyła studied Hebrew with the Dutch Dominican Peter G. Duncker, author of the Compendium grammaticae linguae hebraicae biblicae . According to Wojtyła's fellow student, the future Austrian cardinal Alfons Stickler , in 1947 during his sojourn at the Angelicum , Wojtyła visited Padre Pio , who heard his confession and told him that one day he would ascend to "the highest post in
3120-574: The Archbishop of Canterbury , at the spot where Thomas Becket had been killed, as well as holding several large-scale open air masses, including one at Wembley Stadium , which was attended by some 80,000 people. He travelled to Haiti in 1983, where he spoke in Creole to thousands of impoverished Catholics gathered to greet him at the airport. His message, "things must change in Haiti," referring to
3224-423: The Archbishop of Kraków , the future Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha . On 29 February 1944, Wojtyła was hit by a German truck. German Wehrmacht officers tended to him and sent him to a hospital. He spent two weeks there recovering from a severe concussion and a shoulder injury. It seemed to him that this accident and his survival was a confirmation of his vocation. On 6 August 1944, a day known as "Black Sunday",
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3328-642: The Belgian Pontifical College during this time, under rectorship of Maximilien de Furstenberg . Wojtyła earned a licence in July 1947, passed his doctoral exam on 14 June 1948, and successfully defended his doctoral thesis titled Doctrina de fide apud S. Ioannem a Cruce (The Doctrine of Faith in St. John of the Cross ) in philosophy on 19 June 1948. The Angelicum preserves the original copy of Wojtyła's typewritten thesis. Among other courses at
3432-661: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem , the site of Jesus' burial and resurrection. As pope, John Paul II wrote 14 papal encyclicals and taught about sexuality in what is referred as the " Theology of the Body ". Some key elements of his strategy to "reposition the Catholic Church" were encyclicals such as Ecclesia de Eucharistia , Reconciliatio et paenitentia and Redemptoris Mater . In his At
3536-522: The College of Cardinals , consecrated or co-consecrated many of the world's bishops, and ordained many priests. He has been credited with fighting against dictatorships for democracy and with helping to end communist rule in his native Poland and the rest of Europe. Under John Paul II, the Catholic Church greatly expanded its influence in Africa and Latin America and retained its influence in Europe and
3640-485: The Gegham range. The lava surfaces represent environments that existed in the form of "lakes, river channels and floodplains". The chronology of landscape of the upper most layer of basalts indicates an age of 200,000 years. The river drains a total catchment area of 2,566 square kilometres (991 sq mi). Precipitation volume is 1572 million cubic metre from an annual rainfall of 257 millimetres (10.1 in) with
3744-649: The Gestapo rounded up young men in Kraków to curtail the uprising there , similar to the recent uprising in Warsaw . Wojtyła escaped by hiding in the basement of his uncle's house at 10 Tyniecka Street, while the German troops searched above. More than eight thousand men and boys were taken that day, while Wojtyła escaped to the Archbishop's residence, where he remained until after the Germans had left. On
3848-905: The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), where he made contributions to two of its most historic and influential products, the Decree on Religious Freedom (in Latin, Dignitatis humanae ) and the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World ( Gaudium et spes ). Wojtyła and the Polish bishops contributed a draft text to the Council for Gaudium et spes . According to the Jesuit historian John W. O'Malley ,
3952-653: The social doctrine of the church, which he discussed in three encyclicals: Laborem exercens , Sollicitudo rei socialis , and Centesimus annus . Through his encyclicals and many Apostolic Letters and Exhortations, John Paul II talked about the dignity and the equality of women. He argued for the importance of the family for the future of humanity. Other encyclicals include The Gospel of Life ( Evangelium Vitae ) and Ut unum sint ( That They May Be One ). Though critics accused him of inflexibility in explicitly re-asserting Catholic moral teachings against abortion and euthanasia that have been in place for well over
4056-680: The 1.5 million people killed during the Armenian genocide. Along the park at the memorial there is a 100-meter wall with the names of towns and villages where massacres and deportations are known to have taken place. On the rear side of the commemoration wall, plates have been attached to honor the people who committed themselves to relieving the distress of the survivors during and after the genocide, among them Johannes Lepsius , Franz Werfel , Armin T. Wegner , Henry Morgenthau Sr. , Fridtjof Nansen , Pope Benedict XV , Jakob Künzler and Bodil Biørn . An alley of trees has been planted to commemorate
4160-535: The 19th century, and from early 20th century hydro-power development has also been implemented. The lake waters were planned to be used through the river for irrigating 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) in the Ararat Valley out of which an irrigation of 80,000 hectares (200,000 acres) was created. The hydro-power development was planned on the river as the Sevan–Hrazdan Cascade involving seven schemes in
4264-421: The 264th pope according to the chronological list of popes , the first non-Italian in 455 years. At only 58 years of age, he was the youngest pope since Pope Pius IX in 1846, who was 54. Like his predecessor, John Paul II dispensed with the traditional papal coronation and instead received ecclesiastical investiture with a simplified papal inauguration on 22 October 1978. During his inauguration, when
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4368-548: The Baptist is believed to be interred, where he made a speech calling for Muslims, Christians and Jews to live together. On 15 January 1995, during the X World Youth Day, he offered Mass to an estimated crowd of between five and seven million in Luneta Park , Manila , Philippines, which was considered to be the largest single gathering in Christian history . In March 2000, while visiting Jerusalem , John Paul became
4472-454: The Catholic Church ; and the Catechism of the Catholic Church , which among other things clarified the Church's position on homosexuality . Karol Józef Wojtyła was born in the Polish town of Wadowice . He was the youngest of three children born to Karol Wojtyła (1879–1941), an ethnic Pole , and Emilia Kaczorowska (1884–1929), who was of distant Lithuanian heritage. Emilia, who was
4576-968: The Catholic Church's life, John Paul II led nine "dedicated years" during the twenty-six and a half years of his pontificate: the Holy Year of the Redemption in 1983–84, the Marian Year in 1987–88, the Year of the Family in 1993–94, the three Trinitarian years of preparation for the Great Jubilee of 2000, the Great Jubilee itself, the Year of the Rosary in 2002–3, and the Year of the Eucharist , which began on 17 October 2004, and concluded six months after
4680-610: The Catholic Church's relations with Judaism , Islam , and the Eastern Orthodox Church in the spirit of ecumenism , holding atheism as the greatest threat. He maintained the Church's previous positions on such matters as abortion, artificial contraception , the ordination of women , and a celibate clergy, and although he supported the reforms of the Second Vatican Council , he was seen as generally conservative in their interpretation. He put emphasis on family and identity, while questioning consumerism, hedonism and
4784-509: The Church". Stickler added that Wojtyła believed that the prophecy was fulfilled when he became a cardinal. Wojtyła returned to Poland in the summer of 1948 for his first pastoral assignment in the village of Niegowić , 24 kilometres (15 miles) from Kraków, at the Church of the Assumption. He arrived at Niegowić at harvest time, where his first action was to kneel and kiss the ground. He repeated this gesture, which he adopted from John Vianney , throughout his papacy. In March 1949, Wojtyła
4888-406: The Holocaust , and after the war Berger's new Christian parents asked Karol Wojtyła to baptise the boy. Wojtyła refused, saying that the child should be raised in the Jewish faith of his birth parents and nation, not as a Catholic. He did everything he could to ensure that Berger leave Poland to be raised by his Jewish relatives in the United States. In April 2005, shortly after John Paul II's death,
4992-401: The Hrazdan HEP of 81.6 MW with two units commissioned in 1959; the Argel HEP with installed capacity of 224 MW completed in 1953; the Arzni HEP with capacity of 70.6 MW with installation of 3 units commissioned in 1956; the Kanaker HEP with installed capacity of 100 MW with 6 units completed in 1936; the Yerevan-1 HEP commissioned in 1962 with installation of 44 MW with 2 units; and
5096-445: The Israeli government created a commission to honour the legacy of John Paul II. One of the honorifics proposed by a head of Italy's Jewish community, Emmanuele Pacifici was the medal of the Righteous Among the Nations . In Wojtyła's last book, Memory and Identity , he described the 12 years of the Nazi régime as " bestiality ", quoting from the Polish theologian and philosopher Konstanty Michalski . After finishing his studies at
5200-531: The Polish people. On 4 July 1958, while Wojtyła was on a kayaking holiday in the lakes region of northern Poland, Pope Pius XII appointed him as an auxiliary bishop of Kraków. He was consequently summoned to Warsaw to meet the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński , who informed him of his appointment. Wojtyła accepted the appointment as auxiliary bishop to Kraków's Archbishop Eugeniusz Baziak , and he received episcopal consecration (as titular bishop of Ombi ) on 28 September 1958, with Baziak as
5304-413: The Pope's death. John Paul II recorded music albums. In 1979, his album Pope John Paul II sings at the Festival of Sacrosong was recorded by Infinity Records . In 1994 he released a music album title The Rosary . In 1999, John Paul II released another music album titled Abba Pater . The Great Jubilee of 2000 was a call to the church to become more aware and to embrace her missionary task for
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#17327982022315408-401: The Relationship between Faith and Reason ) John Paul promoted a renewed interest in philosophy and an autonomous pursuit of truth in theological matters. Drawing on many different sources (such as Thomism), he described the mutually supporting relationship between faith and reason , and emphasised that theologians should focus on that relationship. John Paul II wrote extensively about workers and
5512-405: The Solidarity organisation. These visits reinforced this message and contributed to the collapse of East European Communism that took place between 1989 and 1990 with the reintroduction of democracy in Poland, and which then spread through Eastern Europe (1990–1991) and South-Eastern Europe (1990–1992). As an extension of his successful work with youth as a young priest, John Paul II pioneered
5616-403: The Yerevan-3 with capacity of 5 MW with one unit commissioned in 1960. However, priority of release of water from the lake is for irrigation and accordingly the power stations are operated. The civil works involved construction of diversion works, open canals or tunnels and power house which over the years were in need of substantial rehabilitation as they were all built around the middle of
5720-445: The administrative, engineering and technical maintenance offices as well as Komitas Hall, which seats 170 people. Here also are situated the storage rooms for museum artifacts and scientific objects, as well as a library and a reading hall. The museum exhibit is located on the second floor in a space just over 1,000 square meters in size. There are three main indoor exhibit halls and an outer gallery with its own hall. The Genocide Monument
5824-404: The age of 9, and was confirmed at the age of 18. As a boy, Wojtyła was athletic, often playing association football as goalkeeper . During his childhood, Wojtyła had contact with the large Jewish community of Wadowice . School football games were often organised between teams of Jews and Catholics, and Wojtyła often played on the Jewish side. In 2005, he recalled: "I remember that at least
5928-411: The allegations themselves have been criticised. Posthumously he has been referred to by some Catholics as Pope St. John Paul the Great , though that title has no official recognition. Under John Paul II, the two most important constitutions of the contemporary Catholic Church were drafted and put in force: the 1983 Code of Canon Law , which, among many things, began an effort to curb sexual abuse in
6032-560: The beginning of the new millennium ( Novo Millennio Ineunte ), he emphasised the importance of "starting afresh from Christ": "No, we shall not be saved by a formula but by a Person." In The Splendour of the Truth ( Veritatis Splendor ), he emphasised the dependence of man on God and His Law ("Without the Creator, the creature disappears") and the "dependence of freedom on the truth". He warned that man "giving himself over to relativism and scepticism, goes off in search of an illusory freedom apart from truth itself". In Fides et Ratio ( On
6136-461: The cardinals have called for a new bishop of Rome. They called him from a faraway land—far and yet always close because of our communion in faith and Christian traditions. I was afraid to accept that responsibility, yet I do so in a spirit of obedience to the Lord and total faithfulness to Mary, our most Holy Mother. I am speaking to you in your—no, our Italian language. If I make a mistake, please corrict [ sic ] me." Wojtyła became
6240-409: The cardinals were to kneel before him to take their vows and kiss his ring, he stood up as the Polish prelate, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński knelt down, stopped him from kissing the ring, and simply embraced him. During his pontificate, John Paul II made journeys to 129 countries, travelling more than 1,100,000 kilometres (680,000 mi) while doing so. He consistently attracted large crowds, some among
6344-437: The condemnation of abortion, euthanasia, and virtually all capital punishment, calling them all a part of a struggle between a " culture of life " and a "culture of death". He campaigned for world debt forgiveness and social justice . He coined the term " social mortgage ", which related that all private property had a social dimension, namely that "the goods of this are originally meant for all." In 2000, he publicly endorsed
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#17327982022316448-414: The death of Pope Paul VI, Wojtyła voted in the papal conclave , which elected John Paul I . John Paul I died after only 33 days as pope, triggering another conclave . The second conclave of 1978 started on 14 October, ten days after the funeral. It was split between two strong candidates for the papacy : Cardinal Giuseppe Siri , the conservative Archbishop of Genoa , and Cardinal Giovanni Benelli ,
6552-424: The disparity between the wealthy and the poor, was met with thunderous applause. In 2000, he was the first modern pope to visit Egypt, where he met with the Coptic pope , Pope Shenouda III and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria . He was the first Catholic pope to visit and pray in an Islamic mosque, in Damascus , Syria, in 2001. He visited the Umayyad Mosque , a former Christian church where John
6656-499: The draft text Gaudium et spes that Wojtyła and the Polish delegation sent "had some influence on the version that was sent to the council fathers that summer but was not accepted as the base text". According to John F. Crosby, as pope, John Paul II used the words of Gaudium et spes later to introduce his own views on the nature of the human person in relation to God: man is "the only creature on earth that God has wanted for its own sake", but man "can fully discover his true self only in
6760-438: The first pope in history to visit and pray at the Western Wall . In September 2001, amid post- 11 September concerns, he travelled to Kazakhstan, with an audience largely consisting of Muslims, and to Armenia, to participate in the celebration of 1,700 years of Armenian Christianity . In June 1979, John Paul II travelled to Poland, where ecstatic crowds constantly surrounded him. This first papal trip to Poland uplifted
6864-492: The first pope to visit the White House in October 1979, where he was greeted warmly by President Jimmy Carter . He was the first pope ever to visit several countries in one year, starting in 1979 with Mexico and Ireland . He was the first reigning pope to travel to the United Kingdom , in 1982, where he met Queen Elizabeth II , the Supreme Governor of the Church of England . While in Britain he also visited Canterbury Cathedral and knelt in prayer with Robert Runcie ,
6968-487: The genocide victims. The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute opened in 1995 on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the genocide. The structure of the museum, planned by architects Sashur Kalashian, Lyudmila Mkrtchyan and sculptor F. Araqelyan, has followed a unique design. Since opening, the museum has received tens of thousands of visitors including schoolchildren, college students and huge numbers of tourists from outside Armenia. The Republic of Armenia has turned visiting
7072-454: The hills during Roman times , and were built over with other structures during medieval years. Nearby are also the remains of a large cave. The idea of a genocide monument has its origin in the early 1960s when Hakob Zarobian was designated first secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia in 1962. On 16 July 1964, historians Tsatur Aghayan (the director of the Armenian branch of the Institute of Marxism–Leninism), Hovhannes Injikian (head of
7176-447: The income of the population. The memorial must symbolize the rebirth of the Armenian people." On 13 December 1964, Zarobian sent a report-letter to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, where the grounds and the meaning of the anniversary and the construction of the "monument dedicated to the Armenian martyrs sacrificed in World War I" were noted. The Council of Ministers of Soviet Armenia on March 16, 1965 adopted
7280-538: The influential theological book Love and Responsibility , a defence of traditional church teachings on marriage from a new philosophical standpoint. The aforementioned students regularly joined Wojtyła for hiking, skiing, bicycling, camping and kayaking, accompanied by prayer, outdoor Masses and theological discussions. In Stalinist-era Poland, it was not permitted for priests to travel with groups of students. Wojtyła asked his younger companions to call him "Wujek" (Polish for "Uncle") to prevent outsiders from deducing he
7384-421: The international World Youth Days . John Paul II presided over nine of them: Rome (1985 and 2000), Buenos Aires (1987), Santiago de Compostela (1989), Częstochowa (1991), Denver (1993), Manila (1995), Paris (1997), and Toronto (2002). Total attendance at these signature events of the pontificate was in the tens of millions. Keenly aware of the rhythms of time and the importance of anniversaries in
7488-465: The lake at an elevation of 1,900 metres (6,200 ft). The river which flows from the lake in a southern direction passes through a deep gorge as it enters on the western side of the Yerevan city, and then debauchees into the Aras River on the southern side of the city. The geological formations along the river course are made up of lava flows (existing as basalts) generated from three volcanoes in
7592-641: The largest ever assembled in human history , such as the Manila World Youth Day 1995 , which gathered up to four million people, the largest papal gathering ever, according to the Vatican. John Paul II's earliest official visits were to the Dominican Republic and Mexico in January 1979. While some of his journeys (such as to the United States and the Holy Land ) were to places previously visited by Pope Paul VI, John Paul II became
7696-564: The liberal Archbishop of Florence and a close friend of John Paul I. Supporters of Benelli were confident that he would be elected, and in early ballots , Benelli came within nine votes of success. However, both men faced sufficient opposition for neither to be likely to prevail. Giovanni Colombo , the Archbishop of Milan , was considered as a compromise candidate among the Italian cardinal-electors, but when he started to receive votes, he announced that, if elected, he would decline to accept
7800-491: The museum into part of state protocol and many official foreign delegations have already visited the museum. These delegations have included Pope John Paul II , Pope Francis , President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin , Presidents of France Jacques Chirac and Francois Hollande , and other well-known public and political figures. The museum contains historical documents and is open to
7904-531: The nation's spirit and sparked the formation of the Solidarity movement in 1980, which later brought freedom and human rights to his troubled homeland. Leaders of the Polish United Workers' Party intended to use the pope's visit to show the people that although the pope was Polish, it did not alter their capacity to govern, oppress, and distribute the goods of society. They also hoped that if
8008-538: The night of 17 January 1945, the Germans fled the city , and the students reclaimed the ruined seminary . Wojtyła and another seminarian volunteered for the task of clearing away piles of frozen excrement from the toilets. Wojtyła also helped a 14-year-old Jewish refugee girl named Edith Zierer, who had escaped from a Nazi labour camp in Częstochowa . Edith had collapsed on a railway platform, so Wojtyła carried her to
8112-474: The other and a permanent stoop after being hit by a lorry in a quarry. His father, a former Austro-Hungarian non-commissioned officer and later officer in the Polish Army , died of a heart attack in 1941, leaving the young adult Wojtyła an orphan and the immediate family's only surviving member. Reflecting on these times of his life, nearly forty years later he said: "I was not at my mother's death, I
8216-473: The papacy. Cardinal Franz König , Archbishop of Vienna , suggested Wojtyła as another compromise candidate to his fellow electors. Wojtyła won on the eighth ballot on the third day (16 October). Among those cardinals who rallied behind Wojtyła were supporters of Giuseppe Siri, Stefan Wyszyński , most of the American cardinals (led by John Krol ), and other moderate cardinals. He accepted his election with
8320-504: The pope abided by the rules they set, the Polish people would see his example and follow them as well. If the pope's visit inspired a riot, the Communist leaders of Poland were prepared to crush the uprising and blame the suffering on the pope. "The pope won that struggle by transcending politics. His was what Joseph Nye calls ' soft power ' — the power of attraction and repulsion. He began with an enormous advantage, and exploited it to
8424-477: The principal consecrator and as co-consecrators Bishop Bolesław Kominek (titular bishop of Sophene ), auxiliary of the Catholic Archdiocese of Wrocław , and Franciszek Jop , Auxiliary Bishop of Sandomierz (Titular Bishop of Daulia ). Kominek was to become Cardinal Archbishop of Wrocław and Jop was later Auxiliary Bishop of Wrocław and then Bishop of Opole . At the age of 38, Wojtyła became
8528-473: The public for guided tours in Armenian, Russian, English, French, and German. The two-story building is built directly into the side of a hill so as not to detract from the presence of the Genocide Monument nearby. The roof of the museum is flat and covered with concrete tiles. It overlooks the scenic Ararat Valley and majestic Mount Ararat . The first floor of the museum is subterranean and houses
8632-410: The pursuit of wealth. He was one of the most travelled world leaders in history, visiting 129 countries during his pontificate . As part of his special emphasis on the universal call to holiness , John Paul II beatified 1,344 people , and canonised 483 saints , more than the combined tally of his predecessors during the preceding five centuries. By the time of his death, he had named most of
8736-411: The rest of the world. On 19 December 2009, John Paul II was proclaimed venerable by his successor, Benedict XVI , and on 1 May 2011 ( Divine Mercy Sunday ) he was beatified . On 27 April 2014, he was canonised together with John XXIII . He has been criticised for allegedly, as archbishop, having been insufficiently harsh in acting against the sexual abuse of children by priests in Poland, though
8840-542: The river is 733 million cubic meter. The regulated outflow into the river, which forms the Ararat Valley, is utilized for irrigation and hydro-power benefits. The fauna reported from the river includes 33 species of chironomids and 23 species of blackflies . The chironomids belong to five subfamilies of Tanypodinae , Diamesinae , Prodiamesinae , Orthocladiinae , and Chironominae . 25 species of invertebrates comprising two species of rotifers , 13 species of cladocerans and 10 species of copepods have been recorded in
8944-491: The river. While the fish species contained in the lake consist of the Sevan trout ( Salmo ischchan ) or “Prince Fish,” siga, crucian, carp, crayfish, bojak ( Salmo ischchan danilewskii ) and winter bakhtak ( Salmo ischchan ischchan ) and summer bakhtak ( Salmo ischchan aestivalis ), the river is reported to have species of crayfish as well as karas and crayfish in abundance. The lake waters have been used for irrigation since
9048-542: The river. Its waters are in demand to irrigate crops. The river is called Ildaruni in Urartian inscriptions. The name Hrazdan derives from a Middle Iranian form of Avestan Frazdānu , which in Zoroastrian mythology is the body of water by which Vishtaspa converted to Zoroastrianism. Frazdānu is composed of the elements fraz 'elevated, high' and dānu 'river'. Dānu derives from
9152-570: The same Iranian root as a number of hydronyms in Europe, such as Don , Dnieper , Danube and Dniester . The change of word-initial fr- to hr- can be seen in a number of Iranian borrowings into Armenian. The Hrazdan is mentioned in Movses Khorenatsi's history. In the history attributed to Sebeos , the form Hurazdan is used, while some later Armenian historians use the form Hurastan . Its name in Turkic languages
9256-702: The same issues that forbid abortion and artificial birth control . According to a contemporary witness, Wojtyła was against the distribution of a letter around Kraków in 1970, stating that the Polish Episcopate was preparing for the 50th anniversary of the Polish–Soviet War . In 1973, Wojtyła met philosopher Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka , the wife of Hendrik S. Houthakker , professor of economics at Stanford University and Harvard University , and member of President Richard Nixon 's Council of Economic Advisers Tymieniecka collaborated with Wojtyła on
9360-743: The section of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences), and John Kirakosyan (deputy head of the section of ideology of the Central Committee of the party) sent a highly confidential letter to the Presidium of the Communist Party of Armenia, where they made a series of proposal to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the genocide. Point 8 said: "To build the memorial of the victims of the Armenian people in World War I on account of
9464-484: The seminary in Kraków, Wojtyła was ordained as a priest on All Saints' Day , 1 November 1946, by the Archbishop of Kraków, Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha. Sapieha sent Wojtyła to Rome's Pontifical International Athenaeum Angelicum , the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas , to study under the French Dominican friar Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange beginning on 26 November 1946. He resided in
9568-447: The smaller hill are still traces of a castle. Archaeological surveys took place in 2007, and excavations uncovered a wall that is hundreds of meters long and may still be seen in many places above ground. An altar cut from stone stands in the middle of a square at the edge of one of the hills, and large stones that weigh approximately two tons are still visible that cover graves from the second millennium BC. Apartments were later built along
9672-608: The twentieth century. In 2003, the International Energy Corporation", a Closed Joint Stock Company, acquired the projects from the Public Services Regulatory Commission of the country under a license No. 0108 for generation of electrical energy. Right from the time of acquisition they started rehabilitating the projects to maximize power generation. The works were completed during 2004. The works were carried out under
9776-482: The utmost: He headed the one institution that stood for the polar opposite of the Communist way of life that the Polish people hated. He was a Pole, but beyond the regime's reach. By identifying with him, Poles would have the chance to cleanse themselves of the compromises they had to make to live under the regime. And so they came to him by the millions. They listened. He told them to be good, not to compromise themselves, to stick by one another, to be fearless, and that God
9880-501: The words: "With obedience in faith to Christ, my Lord, and with trust in the Mother of Christ and the Church, in spite of great difficulties, I accept". The pope, in tribute to his immediate predecessor, then took the regnal name of John Paul II , also in honour of the late Popes Paul VI and John XXIII, and the traditional white smoke informed the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square that
9984-531: The work of evangelization . "From the beginning of my Pontificate, my thoughts had been on this Holy Year 2000 as an important appointment. I thought of its celebration as a providential opportunity during which the Church, thirty-five years after the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, would examine how far she had renewed herself, in order to be able to take up her evangelising mission with fresh enthusiasm." John Paul II also made
10088-467: The year before becoming pope, Wojtyła said: "All human life, from the moments of conception and through all subsequent stages, is sacred." A series of 129 lectures given by John Paul II during his Wednesday audiences in Rome between September 1979 and November 1984 were later compiled and published as a single work titled Theology of the Body , an extended meditation on human sexuality . He extended it to
10192-568: The youngest bishop in Poland. In 1959, Wojtyła began an annual tradition of saying a Midnight Mass on Christmas Day in an open field at Nowa Huta , the so-called model workers' town outside Kraków that was without a church building. Baziak died in June 1962 and on 16 July, Wojtyła was selected as Vicar Capitular (temporary administrator) of the Archdiocese until an archbishop could be appointed. From October 1962, Wojtyła took part in
10296-534: Was a priest. The nickname gained popularity among his followers. In 1958, when Wojtyła was named auxiliary bishop of Kraków, his acquaintances expressed concern that this would cause him to change. Wojtyła responded to his friends, "Wujek will remain Wujek," and he continued to live a simple life, shunning the trappings that came with his position as bishop. This beloved nickname stayed with Wojtyła for his entire life and continues to be affectionately used, particularly by
10400-477: Was accepted by the Faculty of Theology at the Jagiellonian University. In 1954, he earned a Doctorate in Sacred Theology , writing a dissertation titled "Reevaluation of the possibility of founding a Catholic ethic on the ethical system of Max Scheler " ( Polish : Ocena możliwości zbudowania etyki chrześcijańskiej przy założeniach systemu Maksa Schelera ). Scheler was a German philosopher who founded
10504-489: Was elected pope on the third day of the second papal conclave of 1978 , and became one of the youngest popes in history. The conclave was called after the death of John Paul I , who served only 33 days as pope. Wojtyła adopted the name of his predecessor in tribute to him. John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in the 16th century, as well as the third- longest-serving pope in history after Pius IX and St. Peter . John Paul II attempted to improve
10608-622: Was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005 . In his youth, Wojtyła dabbled in stage acting. He graduated with excellent grades from an all-boys high school in Wadowice , Poland, in 1938, soon after which World War II broke out. During the war, to avoid being kidnapped and sent off to a German forced labour camp , he signed up for work in harsh conditions in
10712-467: Was not at my brother's death, I was not at my father's death. At twenty, I had already lost all the people I loved." After his father's death, he started thinking seriously about the priesthood. In October 1942, while World War II continued, he knocked on the door of the Bishop's Palace , and asked to study for the priesthood. Soon after, he began courses in the clandestine underground seminary run by
10816-629: Was transferred to the parish of Saint Florian in Kraków. He taught ethics at Jagiellonian University and subsequently at the Catholic University of Lublin . While teaching, he gathered a group of about 20 young people, who began to call themselves Rodzinka , the "little family". They met for prayer, philosophical discussion, and to help the blind and the sick. The group eventually grew to approximately 200 participants, and their activities expanded to include annual skiing and kayaking trips. In 1953, Wojtyła's habilitation thesis
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