Yerevan, Mar. 4, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone left Rome on Tuesday morning, March 4, for a visit to Armenia.
The Vatican Secretary of State had originally planned to begin his trip on March 2, but he postponed the visit after Armenian President Robert Kocharian declared a state of emergency in the wake of violent protests in the capital city, Yerevan.
The protests were staged by opposition leaders who charge that the nation's February presidential election was rigged by Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian, who emerged with a decisive victory. On March 1, a confrontation between demonstrators and troops in Yerevan erupted into bloodshed, leaving 8 people dead and over 100 wounded. Rumors of an attempted coup flew around the Armenian capital on the eve of the originally scheduled for Cardinal Bertone's visit.
As the political situation stabilized, however, the Italian cardinal made the decision to go ahead with his visit to Armenia, foreshortening his scheduled itinerary. He will leave on Thursday, March 6, to travel to Azerbaijan, resuming his original travel schedule there.
This is the second time in less than a month that a trip by Cardinal Bertone takes place immediately after following a dramatic political development in the country he is visiting. In February the cardinal arrived in Cuba just after Fidel Castro announced that he would step down from power.