Pope Francis has visited Gyumri's Tiramayr Hayastani (Our Lady of Armenia) Catholic Educational Center and Orphanage.
His Holiness had a dinner with students of the Center and communicated with them and the guests of the Center, including its graduated students, philanthropists and other people who came to welcome the Pope. Earlier today, after the Holy Mass in Vardanants Square in Gyumri, Pope Francis talked to the faithful. During his trip to Gyumri, Pope Francis will also pay a visit to the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of the Seven Plagues. Afterwards, the Pope and the Catholicos will visit the Armenian Catholic Cathedral of Holy Martyrs. In the evening, Pope Francis will return to Yerevan and will hold an ecumenical meeting and prayer for peace in the Republic Square in Yerevan.
Our Lady of Armenia Boghossian Educational Center in Gyumri is a social-educational institution established to provide relief and development for orphans and children in need. The Center is governed by the Armenian Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, a religious order whose mission in Armenia began following the earthquake of 1988 in the devastated areas of Spitak and Gyumri.The Center provides shelter, food, clothing, school supplies and much more to its students, aged 6 to 20 and over. The Center team, comprised of nuns and lay staff, strives to create a caring and nurturing atmosphere where a child can develop mental, spiritual, social, and physical abilities. The Center also runs an extensive summer camp program through which they provide children with nutritious food, help them develop creative and aesthetic abilities through art, strengthen their physical abilities through sports and games, among other activities. Each summer the camp serves some 850 children from different parts of Armenia.