Gregorio Pietro Agagianian
{{Short description|Head of the Armenian Catholic Church from 1937 to 1962}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
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{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = cardinal
| honorific-prefix = His Eminence Servant of God
| name = Gregorio Pietro XV Agagianian
Գրիգոր Պետրոս ԺԵ Աղաճանեան
| title = Cardinal
Patriarch of Cilicia
Prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith
| image = Card. Gregorio Pietro Agagianian portrait.jpg
| image_upright = 1.2
| caption = Photograph by David Lees, 1965
| church = Armenian Catholic Church
| see = Cilicia
| elected = 30 November 1937
| appointed = 13 December 1937
| term_end = 25 August 1962
| predecessor = Avedis Bedros XIV Arpiarian
| successor = Ignatius Bedros XVI Batanian
| other_post = Cardinal-Bishop of Albano
| ordination = 23 December 1917
| ordinated_by =
| consecration = 21 July 1935
| consecrated_by = Bishop Serge Der Abrahamian
| cardinal = 18 February 1946
| created_cardinal_by = Pope Pius XII
| rank = Cardinal-Priest (1946–1970)
Cardinal-Bishop (1970–1971)
| birth_name = Ghazaros Aghajanian
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1895|09|15|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Akhaltsikhe, Russian Empire (present-day Georgia)
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1971|05|16|1895|09|18|df=yes}}
| death_place = Rome, Italy
| nationality = Armenian (ethnicity)
Lebanese (citizen)
Vatican (citizen)
Russian Empire (subject by birth){{efn|"He was born a Russian subject [...] He now carries a Lebanese passport and will henceforth be a citizen of the Vatican." "He is a globetrotter who travels on a Lebanese passport."{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=97}} }}
| residence = Rome, Beirut{{efn|"he has been dividing his time between Beirut, Rome and visits to Armenian communities in many parts of the world" "...shuttling between Rome and his residence at Beirut."{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=100}} "Cardinal Agagianian, who is in Rome on one of his periodical visits, will live here permanently." }}
| religion = Armenian Catholic
| previous_post = {{unbulleted list|Titular Bishop of Comana Armeniae (1935–1937)|Cardinal-Priest of San Bartolomeo all'Isola (1946–1970)|Prefect of the Congregation for Propagation of the Faith (1960–1970), pro-Prefect (1958–1960)}}
| feast_day =
| venerated = Catholic Church
| saint_title = Servant of God
| beatified_date =
| beatified_place =
| beatified_by =
| canonized_date =
| canonized_place =
| canonized_by =
| attributes =
| patronage =
| coat_of_arms = Coat of arms of Gregorio Pietro Agagianian, Patriarch of Cilicia & Pro-Prefect of Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.svg
| motto = {{br list | {{Lang|la|Iustitia et Pax}} | (Justice and Peace)}}
| honorific_prefix = Servant of God
}}
{{Infobox cardinalstyles
|cardinal name = Gregorio Pietro Agagianian
|dipstyle = His Eminence
|offstyle = Your Eminence
|posthumous = Servant of God
|See = Cilicia
|image=Coat of arms of Gregorio Pietro Agagianian, Patriarch of Cilicia & Pro-Prefect of Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.svg|image_size=200px}}
Gregorio Pietro XV Agagianian ({{respell|ah|gah|JAHN|yan}};{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=97}} anglicized: Gregory Peter;{{cite magazine|title=Religion: Pius' Patriarch|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,888173,00.html|magazine=Time|date=25 March 1946|quote=...soft-voiced, fierce-bearded Gregory Peter XV Agagianian (pronounced ah-gah-jahn-yan), Patriarch-Catholicos of Cilicia of the Armenians...}} Western {{langx|hy|Գրիգոր Պետրոս ԺԵ. Աղաճանեան}}, Krikor Bedros ŽĒ. Aghajanian; born Ghazaros Aghajanian, 15 September 1895 – 16 May 1971) was an Armenian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was the head of the Armenian Catholic Church (as Patriarch of Cilicia) from 1937 to 1962 and supervised the Catholic Church's missionary work for more than a decade, until his retirement in 1970. He was considered papabile on two occasions, in 1958 and 1963.
Educated in Tiflis and Rome, Agagianian first served as leader of the Armenian Catholic community of Tiflis before the Bolshevik takeover of the Caucasus in 1921. He then moved to Rome, where he first taught and then headed the Pontifical Armenian College until 1937 when he was elected to lead the Armenian Catholic Church, which he revitalized after major losses the church had experienced during the Armenian genocide.
Agagianian was elevated to the cardinalate in 1946 by Pope Pius XII. He was Prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Fide) from 1958 to 1970. Theologically a moderate, a linguist, and an authority on the Soviet Union, he served as one of the four moderators at the Second Vatican Council. His cause for canonization was opened on 28 October 2022.
Early life and priesthood
Agagianian{{efn|Agagianian {{IPA|it|aɡadʒaˈnjan|lang}} is the Italianized version of his Armenian last name. The Armenian gh ʁ is replaced in Italian with a g ɡ and j is replaced with gi, both dʒ.}} was born Ghazaros Aghajanian{{efn|classical spelling: Ղազարոս Աղաջանեան, reformed: Ղազարոս Աղաջանյան, Western Armenian: Ղազարոս Աղաճանեան.{{cite news |title="Ազդակ"' Ութսունեօթը Տարիներու Ծառայութեան Ընդմէջէն. Անբասիր Հոգեւորականը' Կարտինալ Գրիգոր Պետրոս Ժե. Աղաճանեան |url=https://archive.aztagdaily.com/archives/189390 |work=Aztag |date=11 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220806083821/https://archive.aztagdaily.com/archives/189390 |archive-date=6 August 2022 |language=hy}} His first name is sometimes transliterated as Gazaros and anglicized as Lazarus.}} on 15 September 1895, in the city of Akhaltsikhe, in the Tiflis Governorate of the Russian Empire (in present-day Samtskhe-Javakheti province of Georgia){{sfn|Healy|1961|p=98}} to Harutiun Aghajanian and Iskuhi Sarukhanian. Around the time of his birth, around 60% of the city's 15,000 inhabitants were Armenians.According to the Russian Empire Census of 1897. {{cite journal |title=Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской Империи 1897 г. Распределение населения по родному языку и уездам Российской Империи кроме губерний Европейской России. Ахалцихский уезд – г. Ахалцих [The first general census of the population of the Russian Empire in 1897. Population distribution according to the native language and counties of the Russian Empire, except for the provinces of European Russia. Akhaltsikhe district - Akhaltsikh] |journal=Demoscope Weekly |url=http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/emp_lan_97_uezd.php?reg=531 |language=ru |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915201802/http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/emp_lan_97_uezd.php?reg=531 |archive-date=15 September 2021}} His family was part of the Armenian Catholic minority among the Javakheti Armenians, most of whom were followers of the Armenian Apostolic Church.{{efn|In 1911 Malachia Ormanian estimated that Catholics comprised 10% of the 100,000 Armenians of Akhalkalaki and Akhaltsikhe uezds.{{cite book|last1=Ormanian|first1=Malachia|author-link1=Malachia Ormanian|title=Հայոց եկեղեցին և իր պատմութիւնը, վարդապետութիւնը, վարչութիւնը, բարեկարգութիւնը, արաողութիւնը, գրականութիւն, ու ներկայ կացութիւնը [The Church of Armenia: her history, doctrine, rule, discipline, liturgy, literature, and existing condition]|date=1911|location=Constantinople|page=265 |language=hy |url=http://haygirk.nla.am/upload/1512-1940/1901-1940/hayoc_ekexecin_1911.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220807093825/http://haygirk.nla.am/upload/1512-1940/1901-1940/hayoc_ekexecin_1911.pdf |archive-date=7 August 2022 }}}} His ancestors had emigrated from Erzurum, fleeing Ottoman persecution, to the Russian Caucasus after the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829.
His father died when he was five.{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=98}} Agagianian said he "had been engaged in various small businesses."{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=98}} He had a brother, Petros (Peter), who was a telegraph operator, and a sister, Elizaveta, the widow of an office worker, who both lived in the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=98}} In 1962 his sister Elizaveta travelled to Rome through the intervention of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.
Education and priesthood
Agagianian received primary education at the Karapetian School in Akhaltsikhe. He later attended the Russian Orthodox Tiflis Seminary and then the Pontifical Urban University in Rome in 1906. His outstanding performance in the latter was noted by Pope Pius X, who told the young Agagianian: "You will be a priest, a bishop, and a patriarch."{{cite journal|author1=Gregory Cardinal Peter XV Agagianian|title=The Dogma of the Assumption in the Light of the First Seven Ecumenical Councils|journal=Marian Library Studies|date=January 1961|issue=80|url=http://ecommons.udayton.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1079&context=marian_reprints|publisher=University of Dayton |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915204124/https://ecommons.udayton.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2F&httpsredir=1&article=1079&context=marian_reprints |archive-date=15 September 2021}} He was ordained priest in Rome on 23 December 1917. Despite the upheaval brought by the Russian Revolution, he thereafter served as a parish priest in Tiflis (Tbilisi) and then as pastor of the city's Armenian Catholic community from 1919.{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=99}} He left for Rome in 1921, after the Democratic Republic of Georgia was invaded by the Red Army. He later said he was not confined by the Bolsheviks as "they had many other things to do."{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=99}}
In late 1921, Agagianian became a faculty member and assistant rector of the Pontifical Armenian College in Rome. He later served as rector of the college from 1932 to 1937. He was also a faculty member of the Pontifical Urban University from 1922 to 1932.
Agagianian was appointed titular bishop of Comana di Armenia on 11 July 1935, and was ordained bishop on 21 July 1935, at the San Nicola da Tolentino Church in Rome. His episcopal motto was Iustitia et Pax ("Justice and Peace").
Armenian Catholic Patriarch
On 30 November 1937, Agagianian was elected Patriarch of Cilicia by the synod of bishops of the Armenian Catholic Church, an Eastern particular church sui iuris of the Catholic Church. The election received Papal assent on 13 December 1937. He took the name Gregory Peter ({{langx|fr|Grégoire-Pierre}}; Armenian: Krikor Bedros) and became the 15th patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church, which had 50,000 to 100,000 adherents.{{cite journal|title=Cardinal Agagianian Succumbs|journal=Times-News|date=15 May 1971|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1665&dat=19710515&id=lDoaAAAAIBAJ&pg=5579,1324711&hl=en|publisher=via UPI}} All Armenian Catholic Patriarchs have Peter (Petros/Bedros) in their pontifical name as an expression of allegiance to the church founded by Saint Peter.{{sfn|Adalian|2010|p=231}}
According to Rouben Paul Adalian, the Armenian Catholic Church regained its stature in the Armenian diaspora under the "astute management" of Agagianian following the sizable losses in the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire.{{sfn|Adalian|2010|p=232}} As patriarch, he had immediate ecclesiastical jurisdiction over around 18,000 Catholic Armenians in Lebanon. Agagianian reportedly played a key role in keeping the Armenian-populated village of Kessab within Syria when Turkey annexed the Hatay State in 1939 by intervening as a representative of the Vatican.{{cite journal|last1=Yengibaryan|first1=G.|title=Քեսապի հայոց կաթոլիկ համայնքի պատմությունից [From the History of the Armenian Catholic Community in Kesap]|journal=Lraber Hasarakakan Gitutyunneri|date=2012|issue=4|page=52|url=http://lraber.asj-oa.am/6125/|language=hy}}
According to historian Felix Corley, "One of the fiercest opponents of Communist rule in Armenia was the head of the Armenian Catholic community in Lebanon, Cardinal Bedros (Peter) Agagianian. In successive pastoral letters Agagianian attacked the Communists' record and spoke of the 'bitter reality and material misery' in Soviet Armenia." Felix Corley (1996), Religion in the Soviet Union: An Archival Reader, New York University Press. Page 174.
In 1950, Agagianian published a new pastoral letter in the journal Avetik in which he accused the Armenian Apostolic Church of breaking with its own past by rejecting the Council of Chalcedon and embracing what he termed the heresy of Miaphysitism. Agagianian also alleged, "The Catholic Armenian Apostolic Church is the only preserver of the holy faith and rites of our ancestors including Gregory the Illuminator." Felix Corley (1996), Religion in the Soviet Union: An Archival Reader, New York University Press. Pages 175-175.
According to Felix Corley, opposition to Agagianian and his pastoral letter caused a rare moment of unity between the two divided factions of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Followers of both Kevork VI, the Pro-Soviet Catholicos of Etchmiadzin and Karekin I, the anti-communist and Armenian nationalist Catholicos of Cilicia in Antelias, finally, "had something to agree on in their condemnation of Agagianian". Among many other things, Agagianian was accused by Oriental Orthodox clergy of being "self-appointed" and having no lawful spiritual authority over the Armenian people. It is very telling, however, that "even on such a key matter", Catholicos-Patriarch Kevork VI had to file a written request with the Council of Ministers of the Armenian SSR and, "had to depend on the[ir] goodwill", even to be allowed to see the full text of Agagianian's pastoral letter. Felix Corley (1996), Religion in the Soviet Union: An Archival Reader, New York University Press. Pages 174-175.
Agagianian inaugurated the Armenian Catholic church in Anjar, Lebanon in 1954{{cite web|title=The Armenian Catholic Community of Anjar|url=http://mousaleranjar.org/index.php/en/catholic |publisher=ARF Anjar Committee |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915204937/https://mousaleranjar.org/index.php/en/catholic |archive-date=15 September 2021}} and founded a boarding house for orphaned boys there.{{cite web|last1=La Civita|first1=Michael J.L.|title=Power of Grace|url=http://www.cnewa.org/blog.aspx?ID=1555&pagetypeID=35&sitecode=hq|publisher=Catholic Near East Welfare Association|date=3 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701042824/http://www.cnewa.org/blog.aspx?ID=1555&pagetypeID=35&sitecode=hq |archive-date=1 July 2016}}
He resigned the pastoral governance of the Armenian patriarchate on 25 August 1962, to focus on his duties at the Vatican.{{cite news|title=Armenian Patriarch Resigns|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/08/26/archives/armenian-patriarch-resigns.html|work=The New York Times|date=26 August 1962}}
Cardinal
Agagianian was made a cardinal on 18 February 1946, by Pope Pius XII. He was appointed Cardinal-Priest of San Bartolomeo all'Isola on 22 February 1946. Pope Pius, who had a "great interest in the Eastern churches", called on Agagianian to celebrate a pontifical Mass in the Armenian rite in the Sistine Chapel on 12 March 1946.{{cite book|last=Riccards|first=Michael P.|author-link=Michael P. Riccards|title=Faith and Leadership: The Papacy and the Roman Catholic Church|date=2012|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-7132-5|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=2DI6IwM2ArMC&pg=PA429&dq=pius+march+12,+1946+cardinal+pietro+agagianian+celebrate+armenian+rite 429]}} Herbert Matthews noted that it was Pope Pius's "desire to emphasize the universality of the Catholic Church".{{cite news |last1=Matthews |first1=Herbert L. |author1-link=Herbert Matthews |title=Cardinal Delayed by Russians Flown to Rome by U.S. General |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1946/02/20/archives/cardinal-delayed-by-russians-flown-to-rome-by-us-genereal-hungarian.html |work=The New York Times |date=February 20, 1946}} Held in commemoration of the seventh anniversary of the Pope's coronation, it was the "first time any but the Latin rite has been used in the Sistine Chapel".{{cite news |title=POPE ON ANNIVERSARY AT ARMENIAN SERVICE |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1946/03/13/archives/pope-on-anniversary-at-armenian-service.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 13, 1946}}
Pius named him a member of the Holy Office in June 1958.{{cite news |title=POPE PIUS HONORS AGAGIANIAN AGAIN |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/06/21/archives/pope-pius-honors-agagianian-again.html |work=The New York Times |date=June 21, 1958}}
=Prefect of ''Propaganda Fide''=
File:Canova, Agagianian, altri, convegno di Roma - 1958.jpg
Agagianian was appointed Pro-Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Fide) on 18 June 1958, by Pope Pius. Paul Hofmann of The New York Times wrote that Agagianian, an expert on communism and on Middle Eastern problems, was appointed because he "appeared particularly qualified to combat the danger of Communist inroads in missionary areas in the Middle East, Africa and all Asia".{{cite news |last1=Hofmann |first1=Paul |author1-link=Paul Hofmann |title=ARMENIAN HEADS VATICAN MISSIONS; Pontiff Nominates Cardinal Agagianian to Fill Role After Stritch's Death |date=June 19, 1958
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/06/19/archives/armenian-heads-vatican-missions-pontiff-nominates-cardinal.html |work=The New York Times}} He assumed the post on 23 June at a "simple ceremony".{{cite news |title=AGAGIANIAN IN POST; Armenian Cardinal Succeeds to Office Given Stritch |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/06/24/archives/agagianian-in-post-armenian-cardinal-succeeds-to-office-given.html |work=The New York Times |date=June 24, 1958}} He became Prefect of the Congregation on 18 July 1960.
The Congregation, under his direction, controlled 25,000 missionary priests, 10,000 missionary lay brothers and more than 60,000 missionary nuns worldwide. He had a staff of 27 and his jurisdiction included some 31 million Catholics, 3 million catechumens in 78 archdioceses, 197 apostolic vicariates, 114 prefectures, six independent abbeys, and three independent missions.{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=100}} He supervised the training of Catholic missionaries all over the world. According to Lentz, Agagianian was "largely responsible for liberalizing the church's policies in developing nations".
Agagianian moved to live in Rome permanently in 1958, but he travelled extensively to the missionary areas for which he was responsible.{{sfn|Whooley|2004|p=422}} On 10 December 1958, Agagianian presided over the First Far East Conference of Bishops at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, the Philippines with an attendance of 100 prelates, 10 papal representatives, 16 archbishops, 79 bishops from almost every country in the Far East.{{cite journal|title=The Government|journal=Journal|page=[http://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/philamer/AAJ0523.1959.001/20 14]|publisher=American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines |date=January 1959 |volume=XXXV |issue=1 |editor= A. V. H. Hartendorp}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20210915205435/https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cache/a/a/j/aaj0523.1959.001/00000020.tif100.gif archived]) He was Pope John's official representative at the 8 December ceremony for the consecration of the reconstructed Manila Cathedral.{{cite news |title=Pope Names Agagianian Legate to the Far East |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/11/23/archives/pope-names-agagianian-legate-to-the-far-east.html |work=The New York Times |date=November 23, 1958}}
In February 1959 Agagianian visited Taiwan to oversee missionary work on the island. He later entrusted Archbishop Paul Yü Pin to reestablish the Fu Jen Catholic University there.{{cite web|last1=Kuepers|first1=Jac|title=The Re-establishment of Fu Jen University in Taiwan and the role of the SVD, in particular of Fr. Richard Arens|url=http://www.fuho.fju.edu.tw/sketch/writing/20111118-2-1.pdf|website=fuho.fju.edu.tw|publisher=Fu Jen Catholic University|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170603203812/http://www.fuho.fju.edu.tw/sketch/writing/20111118-2-1.pdf|archive-date=3 June 2017|page=3|date=2011}} He arrived in Japan for a two-week long visit in May 1959, which included a meeting with Emperor Hirohito.{{cite web|title=Chronology for 1959|url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/3063|website=nanzan-u.ac.jp|publisher=Nanzan University|page=86|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170603211422/https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/3063|archive-date=2017-06-03}}
His visit to Ireland in June 1961 was the highlight of the Patrician Year, when the 1,500th anniversary of Saint Patrick, Ireland's patron saint, was celebrated.{{cite news |title=DUBLIN PAGEANTRY HONORS ST. PATRICK |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/06/18/archives/dublin-pageantry-honors-st-patrick.html |work=The New York Times |date=June 18, 1961}} Agagianian received a great popular welcome there."I remember Cardinal Agagianian. I remember when he came to visit Ireland. The people gave him a great welcome." – According to journalist Gerard O'Connell who conducted interviews for the following book: {{cite book|last1=Arinze|first1=Francis|author-link1=Francis Arinze|title=God's Invisible Hand: The Life and Work of Francis Cardinal Arinze|chapter=The Student Years in Rome and Ordination into the Priesthood (1955–1960)|date=2006|publisher=Ignatius Press|isbn=978-1-58617-135-3|chapter-url=https://www.ignatius.com/Products/GIH-P/gods-invisible-hand.aspx|access-date=2017-05-10|archive-date=2017-07-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706063749/http://www.ignatius.com/Products/GIH-P/gods-invisible-hand.aspx|url-status=dead}} Fianna Fáil President of Ireland Éamon de Valera was famously pictured kissing Agagianian's ring.{{cite news|last1=Sweeney|first1=Ken|title=1961. . . a whole year of saints and shamrocks|url=http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/1961-a-whole-year-of-saints-and-shamrocks-26637994.html|work=Irish Independent|date=5 March 2010|access-date=10 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028150122/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/1961-a-whole-year-of-saints-and-shamrocks-26637994.html|archive-date=28 October 2017|url-status=bot: unknown}}{{cite web|title=Photograph of de Valera kissing the ring of Cardinal Gregory Peter XV Agagianian, Papal Legate to the Patrician Congress.|url=https://digital.ucd.ie/view/ivrla:19856|website=digital.ucd.ie|publisher=University College Dublin Digital Library|date=25 June 1961 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916130155/https://digital.ucd.ie/view/ivrla:19856 |archive-date=16 September 2021}} Agagianian celebrated a pontifical high mass in Dublin's Croke Park attended by more than 90,000 people.{{cite news |title=CATHOLIC MEETING ENDS; Irish Rites Honor St. Patrick on 1,500th Anniversary |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/06/26/archives/catholic-meeting-ends-irish-rites-honor-st-patrick-on-1500th.html |work=The New York Times |date=June 26, 1961}}
In September 1963 he met with Madame Nhu, the Catholic first lady of South Vietnam, in Rome.{{cite news |title=Mrs. Nhu, in Rome, Voices Confidence in U.S. Goodwill |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1963/09/24/archives/mrs-nhu-in-rome-voices-confidence-in-us-goodwill.html |work=The New York Times |date=September 24, 1963}}{{cite news|title=No Audience With Pope|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=860&dat=19630923&id=iANPAAAAIBAJ&pg=3427,3555268|work=Ellensburg Daily Record|date=23 September 1963|page=2}} On 18 October 1964, when the Uganda Martyrs were canonized by Pope Paul VI, Agagianian presided over the Holy Mass at Namugongo.{{cite web|title=Important Occasions|url=http://www.ugandamartyrsshrine.org.ug/details.php?id=9|website=ugandamartyrsshrine.org.ug|publisher=Basilica of the Uganda Martyrs (Kampala Archdiocese, Uganda)|access-date=2017-06-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511113055/http://www.ugandamartyrsshrine.org.ug/details.php?id=9|archive-date=2017-05-11|url-status=dead}} In November 1964 he traveled to Bombay, India to open the 38th Eucharistic Congress.{{cite news|title=Cardinal Arrives In Bombay to Open Eucharist Meeting|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/11/28/cardinal-arrives-in-bombay-to-open-eucharist-meeting.html|work=The New York Times|date=28 November 1964}} It was attended by more than 200 cardinals and bishops.{{cite news |last1=Brady |first1=Thomas F. |title=CARDIAL OPENS BOMBAY CONGRESS'; 100,000 People Assemble for Eucharistic Session |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/11/29/archives/cardial-opens-bombay-congress-100000-people-assemble-for.html |work=The New York Times |date=November 29, 1964}}
=Second Vatican Council=
Agagianian sat on the Board of Presidency of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), which took place from 1962 to 1965. He was appointed by Pope Paul VI as one of the four moderators who directed the course of the debates, along with Leo Joseph Suenens, Julius Döpfner, and Giacomo Lercaro.{{cite book|last=Gaillardetz|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Gaillardetz|title=The Church in the Making: Lumen Gentium, Christus Dominus, Orientalium Ecclesiarum|date=2006|publisher=Paulist Press|isbn=978-0-8091-4276-7|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_iFSYQskQPUC&pg=PA17&dq=moderators+dopfner+suenens+lercaro+agagianian 17–18]}} Agagianian was the only one of these four from the Curia,{{cite book|last=Nolan|first=Ann Michele|title=A Privileged Moment: Dialogue in the Language of the Second Vatican Council, 1962–1965|date=2006|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-3-03910-984-5|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=BKzTBu8EpUMC&pg=PA83&dq=moderators+dopfner+suenens+lercaro+agagianian 83]}} and represented the Eastern Catholic Churches.{{cite book|last=Rausch|first=Thomas P.|author-link=Thomas Rausch|editor1-last=Sanneh|editor1-first=Lamin|editor2-last=McClymond|editor2-first=Michael|editor1-link=Lamin Sanneh|title=The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to World Christianity|contribution=Roman Catholicism since 1800|date=2016|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-118-55604-7|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=KCzYCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA610&dq=Gaudium+et+spes+agagianian 610]}} He had a special role in the preparation of the missionary decree Ad gentes and Gaudium et spes, the Constitution on the Church in the Modern World.{{cite web|title=Agagianian XV, Gregory Peter|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/agagianian-xv-gregory-peter|website=New Catholic Encyclopedia|publisher=Gale|date=2003|quote=He was a key figure at the Second Vatican Council, serving as a presiding officer and helping to draw up the missionary decree Ad Gentes.}}{{cite web|last=Kalinichenko|first=E. V.|title=Агаджанян (Agadzhanyan)|url=http://www.pravenc.ru/text/63068.html|website=Orthodox Encyclopedia|publisher=Russian Orthodox Church|language=ru|date=21 March 2008|quote=Участвовал в подготовке и проведении Ватиканского II Собора, на к-ром был одним из четырех модераторов (председатель сессии), ему принадлежит особая роль в подготовке Конституции о Церкви в совр. мире "Gaudium et spes" (Радость и надежда) и декрета о миссионерской деятельности "Ad gentes divinitus" (Народам по Промыслу Божию).}}
Papal candidate
As a cardinal, Agagianian participated in the papal conclaves of 1958 and 1963, during which he was considered to have been papabile.{{efn|"In 1958 Agagianian was one of four cardinals reported to have the best chance of being elected Pope. Today, at 65, he is still rated at the very top among the papabili — those cardinals regarded as likely to succeed Pope John."{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=97}}
"In 1958 Agagianian was one of four cardinals reported to have the best chance of being elected Pope. Today, at 65, he is still rated at the very top among the papabili—those cardinals regarded as likely to succeed Pope John."{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=97}}
"He was mentioned as a possibility in the 1958 conclave which elected John XXIII and again in the 1963 conclave which elected the present pope."}} According to J. Peter Pham, Agagianian was considered a "serious (albeit unwilling) candidate" for the papacy in both conclaves. Contemporary news sources noted that Agagianian was the first serious non-Italian papal candidate in centuries.
=1958 conclave=
{{main|Papal conclave, 1958}}
According to Greg Tobin and Robert J. Wister, Agagianian, known to have been close to Pope Pius XII, was one of the favourites in the 1958 conclave.{{cite book|last1=Tobin|first1=Greg|author-link=Greg Tobin|last2=Wister|first2=Robert J.|title=Selecting the Pope: Uncovering the Mysteries of Papal Elections|date=2009|publisher=Sterling Publishing Company|isbn=978-1-4027-2954-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/selectingpope0000tobi/page/40 40]|quote=The favourites going in included the grandly named Cardinal Gregory Peter XV Agagianian, patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians, a bearded sixty-three-year-old known to be close to Pius XII.}} His candidacy was widely discussed in the press.{{cite news |last1=Hofmann |first1=Paul |author1-link=Paul Hofmann |title=4 Are Leading Candidates, Sources at Vatican Believe |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/10/27/archives/4-are-leading-candidates-sources-at-vatican-believe-four-said-to.html |work=The New York Times |date=October 27, 1958}}{{cite news|last1=Forcella|first1=Enzo|author-link1=Enzo Forcella|title=Tre nomi di "papabili" Siri, Agagianian, Montini|url=http://www.archiviolastampa.it/component/option,com_lastampa/task,search/mod,libera/action,viewer/Itemid,3/page,2/articleid,0067_01_1958_0242_0002_24710000/|work=La Stampa|date=11 October 1958|language=it}}{{cite news|title=May Become Next Pope|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/96528807?searchTerm=Agagianian|work=Northern Star|date=12 March 1953|location=Sydney|quote=An Armenian Cardinal who, according to widespread speculation in Australia and overseas, may become the next Pope...}} Even before the death of Pope Pius XII, The Milwaukee Sentinel wrote that some authoritative voices of Vatican affairs believe that Agagianian was "without question the leading candidate" to succeed Pius.{{cite journal|last=Casserly|first=John J.|title=Cardinal Agagianian—Next Pope?|journal=The Milwaukee Sentinel|date=27 June 1958|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19580627&id=5CkxAAAAIBAJ&pg=6434,3549903&hl=en}}{{Dead link|date=March 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} On October 9, the day Pope Pius died, The Sentinel wrote that he is "considered by very responsible Vatican circles as the foremost choice" to succeed Pope Pius. The Chicago Tribune noted that although Agagianian was popular amongst believers, the cardinals were expected to try first to agree on an Italian cardinal.{{cite news|last=Rue|first=Larry|title=Seal 2 Doors of Cardinals' Voting Area|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1958/10/25/page/1/article/seal-2-doors-of-cardinals-voting-area|work=Chicago Tribune|date=28 October 1958}}
The election was seen as a struggle between Italian Angelo Roncalli (who was eventually elected and became Pope John XXIII) and non-Italian Agagianian.{{efn|"The conclave had found itself choosing between the Armenian but Romanized Agagianian and the patriarch of Venice; it had chosen the latter: another Italian, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli..."{{sfn|Whooley|2004|p=431}} "The contest finally resolved itself, as so many people had predicted, into a straight-out issue between Italian Roncalli and non-Italian Agagianian."}} Agagianian came in second according to Massimo Faggioli and contemporary press reports.{{cite book|last=Faggioli|first=Massimo|author-link=Massimo Faggioli|title=John XXIII: The Medicine of Mercy|date=2014|publisher=Liturgical Press|isbn=978-0-8146-4976-3|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=aLJiAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA107 106–107]|quote=The runner-up was the Armenian cardinal Agagianian.}} Three months after the conclave, Roncalli revealed that his name and that of Agagianian "went up and down like two chickpeas in boiling water" during the conclave.{{cite book|last1=Hebblethwaite|first1=Peter|author-link1=Peter Hebblethwaite|title=John XXIII: Pope of the Century|date=2005|publisher=A & C Black|isbn=978-0-86012-387-3|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=m6fUAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA141 141]}} Armenian-American journalist Tom Vartabedian suggests that Agagianian may have been elected but declined the post.
=1963 conclave=
{{main|Papal conclave, 1963}}
According to John Whooley, an authority on the Armenian Catholic Church, Agagianian was considered "a strong contender, most 'papabile{{'"}} before the 1963 conclave and there was "much expectation" that he would be elected.{{sfn|Whooley|2004|p=423}} The conclave instead elected Giovanni Battista Montini, who became Pope Paul VI. According to the Armenian Catholic Church website, Agagianian was rumoured to have been actually elected at this conclave but declined to accept.{{cite web|url=http://www.armeniancatholic.org/inside.php?lang=en&page_id=23115|work=Armenian Catholic Church|title=Biography of Gregory Petros XV Agagianian|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725014407/http://www.armeniancatholic.org/inside.php?lang=en&page_id=23115|archive-date=2011-07-25}} According to speculations by Italian journalists Andrea Tornielli (1993){{cite news|title=Move to Block Soviet Pope Revealed|url=http://buffalonews.com/1993/12/21/move-to-block-soviet-pope-revealed/|work=The Buffalo News|date=21 December 1993|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170531193313/http://buffalonews.com/1993/12/21/move-to-block-soviet-pope-revealed/|archive-date=31 May 2017}} and Giovanni Bensi (2013){{cite journal|last=Bensi|first=Giovanni|title=Le due chance perdute del papa armeno|journal=East Journal|date=20 March 2013|url=http://www.eastjournal.net/archives/29599|language=it}}; also published in Russian: {{cite news|last=Bensi|first=Giovanni|title=Операция "Конклав" (Operation "Conclave")|url=http://www.ng.ru/ng_religii/2013-03-20/4_konklav.html|work=Nezavisimaya Gazeta|date=20 March 2013|language=ru}} Italian intelligence services were involved in preventing Agagianian from being elected pope in 1963. They maintain that SIFAR (Servizio informazioni forze armate), the Italian military intelligence service, mounted a smear campaign against Agagianian prior to the conclave by disseminating the narrative that Agagianian's 70-year-old sister, Elizaveta—who had visited Rome a year earlier to meet him—had ties with the Soviet authorities. The Tablet wrote in 1963 that their meeting, which was preceded by negotiations partly conducted by the Italian ambassador in Moscow, "must rank as one of the best-kept diplomatic secrets of all time".{{cite news |title=Cardinal Agagianian Reunited with His Sister |url=http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/issue/6th-july-1963/22/2653#scanned |work=The Tablet |date=6 July 1963 |page=[https://web.archive.org/web/20170510081609/http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/getImage/6th-july-1963/22.jpg 746] }}
Views
Thomas Rausch described him as "hardly a strict traditionalist." According to Ralph M. Wiltgen, he was "regarded by the liberals as the most acceptable of the Curial cardinals" in the Second Vatican Council.{{cite book|last1=Wiltgen|first1=Ralph M.|author-link1=Ralph M. Wiltgen|title=The Inside Story of Vatican II: A Firsthand Account of the Council's Inner Workings|date=1991|publisher=TAN Books|isbn=978-1-61890-639-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zKgvCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT100 }} In 1963 Life magazine called him a liberal, cosmopolitan, and a moderate. He was described as the Catholic Church's "topmost champion of the unity of the Christian churches under the Pope." In 1950 he issued a pastoral letter in which he directly appealed to all Armenians (most of whom adhere to the Armenian Apostolic Church) to accept the authority of the Catholic Church.{{cite journal|last1=Tchilingirian|first1=Hratch|authorlink=Hratch Tchilingirian|title=L'Eglise arménienne pendant la guerre froide : la crise Etchmiadzine-Antelias|journal=Hebdo Nor Haratch|date=9 June 2016|issue=265|page=6|url=http://oxbridgepartners.com/hratch/images/Publications/NorHaratch_Tchilingirian_Hratch_Hebdo_265_9juin2016.pdf|location=Paris|language=fr|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170603095346/http://oxbridgepartners.com/hratch/images/Publications/NorHaratch_Tchilingirian_Hratch_Hebdo_265_9juin2016.pdf|archive-date=3 June 2017}}
=On the Soviet Union=
During his lifetime, Agagianian was considered the Catholic Church's leading expert on communism and the Soviet Union.{{cite journal|title=Cardinal Dies; Was Authority on Communism|journal=The Day|date=17 May 1971|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1915&dat=19710517&id=AQAhAAAAIBAJ&pg=4328,2513109&hl=en|publisher=via AP}} Norman St John-Stevas wrote 1955 that Agagianian is "uncommitted" in the Cold War. In a January 1958 diplomatic report Marcus Cheke, UK Ambassador to the Holy See, wrote that Agagianian "believes that the best thing for the Western powers to do is to hang on, avoid war (and the more strongly armed and united they are, the less danger there is of Russia venturing on a war) and to wait for a transformation inside Russia, which he thinks will happen sooner or later." Agagianian called for a "heroically Christian" struggle against communism during his visit to Australia in 1959.{{cite book|last1=Duncan|first1=Bruce|author-link1=Bruce Duncan|title=Crusade Or Conspiracy?: Catholics and the Anti-Communist Struggle in Australia|date=2001|publisher=UNSW Press|isbn=978-0-86840-731-9|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=HA4uo8bq0BQC&pg=PA369&lpg=PA369&dq=Agagianian+Sydeny 369]}}
Agagianian opposed the repatriation of Armenian Catholics from the Middle East to Soviet Armenia in 1946.{{cite journal|last1=Whooley|first1=John|title=The Armenian Catholic Church in the Middle East – Modern History, Ecclesiology and Future Challenges|journal=The Downside Review|date=2016|volume=134|issue=4|page=137|doi=10.1177/0012580616671061|s2cid=157659811}} He noted that there was an intolerant environment in the Soviet Union towards religion and argued that "We [Armenian Catholics] are forced to remain as emigrants to preserve our church and faith".
;Reception in the Soviet Union
Agagianian's statements regarding the repatriation of Armenians were received as defamation and hostile in the Soviet-controlled homeland.{{cite journal|last1=Stepanyan|first1=Armenuhi|title=Հայրենադարձության հայկական փորձը (1946–1948 թթ.) [Armenian Experience of Repatriation (1946–1948)]|journal=Patma-Banasirakan Handes|date=2010|issue=1|page=151|url=http://hpj.asj-oa.am/2763/|language=hy}} In the early 1950s, Etchmiadzin, the Soviet-based official publication of the Armenian Apostolic Church, published articles severely criticizing Agagianian.{{cite journal|first=F.|last=Borchanian|title=Երկու խոսք կարդինալ Աղաջանյանի ազգադավ գործունեության մասին [Two words on Cardinal Agagianian's anti-national activity]|journal=Etchmiadzin|date=1952|volume=9|issue=4|pages=24–27|url=http://echmiadzin.asj-oa.am/1319/|publisher=Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin|language=hy}}{{cite journal|author=Editorial board|title=Օրմանյան պատրիարքի "Հայոց Եկեղեցին" և կարդինալ Աղաջանյանը ["Armenian Church" by Patriarch Ormanian and Cardinal Agagianian]|journal=Etchmiadzin|date=1953|volume=10|issue=2|pages=3–9|url=http://echmiadzin.asj-oa.am/1860/|publisher=Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin|language=hy}} One article claimed that he was created cardinal in order to "damage the unity" and "disunite" the Armenian people. It also argued that Agagianian also held the "key to submitting the Oriental Orthodox churches of the Middle East (Coptic, Assyrian, Ethiopian, etc.) to the Catholic Church."{{cite journal|title=Կարդինալ Աղաջանյանի այցելությունը [Cardinal Agagianian's visit]|journal=Etchmiadzin|date=1951|volume=8|issue=11–12|pages=79–80|url=http://echmiadzin.asj-oa.am/1384/|publisher=Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin|language=hy}} In another article, Agagianian was accused in "seek[ing] to bring Armenian believers under the control of the Vatican" and make them "anti-national [...] without an ideal and dignity [....] in short, a cosmopolitan crowd, which will serve the Turkish-American war machine."{{cite journal|title=Կարդինալ Աղաջանյանը և իր գործունեությունը [Cardinal Agagianian and his activities]|journal=Etchmiadzin|date=1952|volume=9|issue=3|pages=52–55|url=http://echmiadzin.asj-oa.am/1301/|publisher=Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin|language=hy}} After Stalin's death, relations improved. When Agagianian died, Vazgen I, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, sent Pope Paul VI a letter mourning his death.{{cite journal|title=Ամենայն Հայոց Վեհափառ Հայրապետի ցավակցական հեռագիրը Նորին Սրբություն Պողոս Զ Սրբազան Պապին՝ կարդինալ Գրիգոր Աղաջանյանի մահվան առթիվ, և պատասխանը|journal=Etchmiadzin|date=1971|volume=28|issue=5|page=9|url=http://echmiadzin.asj-oa.am/8777/|publisher=Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin|language=hy}}
Retirement and death
Agagianian effectively retired when he resigned as prefect on 19 October 1970, and was appointed Cardinal-Bishop of the Suburbicarian Diocese of Albano on October 22.{{efn|On February 11, 1965, Pope Paul VI decreed in his motu propio Ad Purpuratorum Patrum that Eastern Patriarchs who are elevated to the College of Cardinals would be made cardinal bishops and maintain their patriarchal see.{{cite web| url =https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/it/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19650211_ad-purpuratorum.html | language =it | access-date = 27 October 2017 | date = 11 February 1965 | publisher = Libreria Editrice Vaticana| title= Ad purpuratorum Patrum Collegium | author= Pope Paul VI}} Since Agagianian was no longer patriarch, he remained a Cardinal-Priest with title to his titular church San Bartolomeo all'Isola. He only became Cardinal Bishop upon his appointment as the Cardinal-Bishop of Albano.}}
Agagianian died of cancer in Rome on 16 May 1971.{{cite news|title=Morto a Roma a 75 anni: Il cardinale Agagianian fu a scuola con Stalin| url=http://www.archiviolastampa.it/component/option,com_lastampa/task,search/mod,libera/action,viewer/Itemid,3/page,13/articleid,1518_02_1971_0110A_0027_23281374/|work=La Stampa|date=17 May 1971|page=27|language=it}} Pope Paul VI called him a "noble figure" upon Agagianian's death.{{cite journal|last1=Caprile|first1=G.|title=Morte del Card. Agagianian|journal=La Civiltà Cattolica|issue=2899–2904|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oAQ5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA596 596]|language=it}} His funeral took place on 21 May at St. Peter's Basilica. He was buried in Rome's San Nicola da Tolentino Armenian church. A monument to Agagianian has been erected inside the church, flanked by the virgin martyr Hripsime and St. Vartan.{{cite journal|last1=Hager|first1=June|title=The Armenian Catholic Community in Rome|journal=Inside the Vatican|date=June 1999|url=http://www.catholicliturgy.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/articletext/index/65/subindex/115/articleindex/4|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170603104052/http://www.catholicliturgy.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/articletext/index/65/subindex/115/articleindex/4|archive-date=2017-06-03}}
Personal life
Agagianian was {{convert|1.75|metre|abbr=on}} tall and had a slender frame.{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=98}} Since Agagianian spent much of his adult life in Rome, he was "Romanized"{{sfn|Whooley|2004|p=431}} and spoke fluent Italian{{cite news |last1=Brewer |first1=Sam Pope |title=32 NEW CARDINALS NOTIFIED OF TITLES IN VATICAN RITES |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1946/02/19/archives/32-new-cardinals-notified-of-titles-in-vatican-rites-group-near.html |work=The New York Times |date=February 19, 1946 |quote=...Cardinal Agagianian delivered a half-hour speech in fluent Italian...}} with a Roman accent.{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=99}}
Agagianian was a polyglot and renowned linguist. He was described as the College of Cardinals' "top linguist" in 1953. He spoke fluent Armenian (his mother language),{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=98}} Russian, Italian, French, English,{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=99}} was proficient in Latin and Hebrew,{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=99}} had a reading knowledge of Arabic,{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=99}} and learned German, Spanish, classical Greek. He had "a working knowledge of the Slavic languages and [could] speak most of the languages of the Middle and Far East." Healy noted that "his English is excellent, touched with an unidentifiable accent that probably owes something to all his other languages".{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=99}}
Legacy
File:S Nicola da Tolentino - tomba Aghagianian 1260325.JPG
In 1966, Italian journalist Alberto Cavallari wrote that Agagianian is the "undisputed leader of non-European Catholicism. He is regarded by all as one of the most powerful cardinals in the Curia and is invested with autonomous powers equalled by none except the pope."{{cite book|last1=Cavallari|first1=Alberto|author-link1=Alberto Cavallari|title=The Changing Vatican [Il Vaticano che cambia]|date=1967|publisher=Doubleday|page=156}} Healy argued that "he symbolize[d] the unity of the East and West in the Church"{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=97}} Upon his death, The New York Times wrote that "Despite his failure to win election from the Sacred College of Cardinals, [Agagianian] nevertheless made a major impact on the development of the [Catholic] church and its role in the newly developing nations."
Agagianian has been called "the most celebrated Armenian Catholic in history". He was the second Armenian Catholic churchman ever to be made cardinal, after Andon Bedros IX Hassoun in 1880. Richard McBrien noted that Agagianian was "regarded by some, including fellow Eastern-rite Catholics, as more Roman than the Romans".{{cite news|last=McBrien|first=Richard|author-link=Richard McBrien|title=Pope John XXIII had positive impact on present, future church|url=http://catholiccourier.com/commentary/father-mcbrien/pope-john-xxiii-had-positive-impact-on-present-future-church/|work=catholiccourier.com|publisher=Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester|date=21 December 2009}}
Cardinal Richard Cushing of Boston called Agagianian "one of the most brilliant Churchmen of modern times, and possessor of one of the greatest minds in the history of the Church".{{sfn|Healy|1961|pp=97-98}} Norman St John-Stevas wrote of him in 1955 as "a man of distinguished presence, a fine scholar".{{cite news|author1=Norman St John-Stevas|author-link=Norman St John-Stevas|title=The Next Pope|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/23rd-september-1955/11/the-next-pope-by-norman-st-john-stevas-p-ope-pius-|work=The Spectator|date=22 September 1955|pages=11–12}} Healy opined that he exuded "an attractive combination of modesty and wisdom".{{sfn|Healy|1961|p=98}}
Cause of beatification and canonization
Cardinal Angelo DeDonatis, Vicar General of His Holiness, issued a decree on 4 February 2020, officially commencing the process for Agagianian's beatification.{{cite web |title=The canonization process of Armenian Cardinal Agagianian opens on October 28th |url=http://www.fides.org/en/news/72705-ASIA_LEBANON_The_canonization_process_of_Armenian_Cardinal_Agagianian_opens_on_October_28th |publisher=Agenzia Fides |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112222157/http://www.fides.org/en/news/72705-ASIA_LEBANON_The_canonization_process_of_Armenian_Cardinal_Agagianian_opens_on_October_28th |archive-date=12 January 2023 |date=29 August 2022}} The cause was officially opened on October 28, 2022.
Honours and awards
{{incomplete list|date=June 2017}}
- Honorary Doctor of Laws from St. Francis Xavier University (1951){{cite news |title=Cardinal Agagianian Honored |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/12/05/archives/cardinal-agagianian-honored.html |work=The New York Times |date=December 5, 1951}}
- Honorary Doctor of Letters from Fordham University (1951){{cite news |title=CATHOLIC LEADER GREETED; Cardinal Agagianian Welcomed by Armenian Community |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/12/14/archives/catholic-leader-greeted-cardinal-agagianian-welcomed-by-armenian.html |work=The New York Times |date=December 14, 1951}}
- Honorary Doctor of Laws from Boston College (1952){{cite journal|title=The Patriarch of Cilicia|journal=The Heights|date=11 January 1952|volume=XXXIII|issue=11|url=http://newspapers.bc.edu/cgi-bin/bostonsh?a=d&d=bcheights19520111.2.33|publisher=Boston College |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915201241/https://newspapers.bc.edu/cgi-bin/bostonsh?a=d&d=bcheights19520111.2.33&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------- |archive-date=15 September 2021}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20210915201257/https://newspapers.bc.edu/cgi-bin/imageserver.pl?oid=bcheights19520111&getpdf=true archived PDF]{{cite web|title=Honorary Degrees Awarded by Boston College 1952–1998|url=https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/publications/factbook/pdf/98_99/fb99-degree-conf-hondgr.pdf|website=bc.edu|page=102 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121194459/https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/publications/factbook/pdf/98_99/fb99-degree-conf-hondgr.pdf |archive-date=21 January 2022}}
- Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Santo Tomas (1958){{cite web|title=Honorary Degree Awardees of the University|url=http://www.ust.edu.ph/about/honorary-awardees|website=ust.edu.ph|publisher=University of Santo Tomas}}
- Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Notre Dame (1960){{cite web|title=For release in AM's, Thursday, May 12th|url=http://archives.nd.edu/pr/pdf/PR_1960_05.pdf|publisher=University of Notre Dame|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170528134840/http://archives.nd.edu/pr/pdf/PR_1960_05.pdf|archive-date=28 May 2017}}
- Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Boston College (1960){{cite journal|title=Cardinal Agagianian Accepts Degree|journal=885|date=1 June 1960|volume=VIII|issue=6|url=http://newspapers.bc.edu/cgi-bin/bostonsh?a=d&d=eighteightfive19600601-01.2.3|publisher=Newton College of the Sacred Heart}}
- Honorary Doctor of Laws from the Catholic University of America (1960){{cite web|title=Honorary Degrees Conferred by The Catholic University of America|url=http://commencement.cua.edu/res/docs/Master%20Listing%20of%20All%20Honorary%20Degrees.pdf|website=cua.edu|publisher=Catholic University of America}}
- Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from St. John's University (1960){{cite journal|title=Cardinal Agagianian Honored by St. John's|journal=St. John's University Alumni News|date=June 1960|volume=1|issue=6|page=1|url=http://digitalmemory.stjohns.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/alumnews1960/id/24/rec/34|publisher=St. John's University}}
- Honorary Doctor of Laws from the National University of Ireland (1961){{cite web|title=NUI Honorary Degrees Awarded|url=http://www.nui.ie/college/docs/HonGradsList.pdf|website=nui.ie|publisher=National University of Ireland|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170603210035/http://www.nui.ie/college/docs/HonGradsList.pdf|archive-date=3 June 2017}}
;State orders and awards
- Order of Merit of the Italian Republic – Knight (Cavaliere, 1963){{cite web|title=AGAGIANIAN S.Em. Rev.ma il Cardinale Gregorio Pietro|url=http://www.quirinale.it/elementi/DettaglioOnorificenze.aspx?decorato=33180|website=quirinale.it|publisher=President of Italy|language=it|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160805075503/http://www.quirinale.it/elementi/DettaglioOnorificenze.aspx?decorato=33180|archive-date=5 August 2016}}
Publications
{{incomplete list|date=July 2017}}
- {{cite book|last1=Agagianian|first1=Gregorio Pietro|title=Perché le missioni? Teologia della missione: studi e dibattiti|date=1970|publisher=Ed. Nigrizia|location=Bologna|language=it}}
- {{cite book|last1=Agagianian|first1=Gregorio Pietro|title=L'unità della Chiesa dal punto di vista teologico|date=1962|publisher=Vita e Pensiero|location=Milan|language=it}}
- {{cite book|last1=Agagianian|first1=Gregorio Pietro|title=La Romanità dell' Abbate Mechitar di Sebaste|date=1950|location=San Lazzaro degli Armeni|language=it}}
References
=Notes=
{{notelist}}
=References=
{{reflist|refs=
{{cite web|title=Grégoire-Pierre XV (François) Cardinal Agagianian †|url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bagag.html|website=Catholic-Hierarchy.org|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171027195300/http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bagag.html|archive-date=2017-10-27}} ()
{{cite magazine|first=Robert B.|last=Kaiser|title=And Now the Search Begins for the New Pope|magazine=Life|date=21 June 1963|pages=57|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xEsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA57 |quote=There is Gregory Peter Agagianian, 67, a bearded Armenian cardinal who has been a Roman by adoption since he left his home town when he was 11 year old. Agagianian is a moderate who has traveled widely in his capacity as head of all the Church's missionary activity. However, he holds no sympathy for the Church's revisionist theologians and biblical scholars, and this may prevent the more moderate cardinals from voting for him.}}
{{cite magazine|title=The 'Papabili': One May Become Pope—Great Princes of the Church|magazine=Life|date=14 June 1963|pages=29–33|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=30sEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA33 |quote=The Curia's foremost authority on Russia is liberal, cosmopolitan Gregory Cardinal Agagianian, master of eight languages. As prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, he supervises the training of Catholic missionaries all over the world.}}
{{cite news|last=Vartabedian|first=Tom|title=The Armenian Cardinal and His Servant|url=http://armenianweekly.com/2012/02/06/the-armenian-cardinal-and-his-servant/|work=Armenian Weekly|date=6 February 2012|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171027195617/https://armenianweekly.com/2012/02/06/the-armenian-cardinal-and-his-servant/|archive-date=27 October 2017}} ()
{{cite journal|last=Casserly|first=John J.|title=Russian-born Cardinal Believed Top Choice as Pius XII Successor|journal=The Milwaukee Sentinel|date=9 October 1958|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19581009&id=RPsnAAAAIBAJ&pg=2404,230358&hl=en}}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
{{cite journal|title=Cardinal Agagianian Dies at 75|journal=Reading Eagle|date=17 May 1971|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19710517&id=IZotAAAAIBAJ&pg=6864,4640799&hl=en|publisher=via UPI}}
{{cite journal|title=Will the next Pope be a Russian?|journal=The Milwaukee Sentinel|date=25 April 1953|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19530425&id=p3BQAAAAIBAJ&pg=5424,7331778&hl=en}}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
{{cite news|title=Marked for Greatness: Gregory Peter XV Cardinal Agagianian|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/06/19/archives/marked-for-greatness-gregory-peter-xv-cardinal-agagianian.html|work=The New York Times|date=19 June 1958}}
{{cite news|title=Cardinal Agagianian Is Dead; Scholarly Mission Leader, 75|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/17/archives/cardinal-agagianian-is-dead-scholarly-mission-leader-75-prelate.html|work=The New York Times|date=17 May 1971}}
{{cite news|last1=Manjikian|first1=Asbed|title="Ազդակ"' Ութսունեօթը Տարիներու Ծառայութեան Ընդմէջէն. Անբասիր Հոգեւորականը' Կարտինալ Գրիգոր Պետրոս Ժե. Աղաճանեան|url=http://www.aztagdaily.com/archives/189390|work=Aztag|date=11 June 2014|location=Beirut|language=hy|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171027195128/http://www.aztagdaily.com/archives/189390|archive-date=27 October 2017}} ()
{{cite journal|title=Papal Battle Voting Close|journal=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=2 November 1958|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19581102&id=4ndWAAAAIBAJ&pg=5194,7835498&hl=en|quote=The three other contenders named by observers in their order of polling:
•Cardinal Agagianian...}}
{{cite web |title=AGAGIANIAN, Grégoire-Pierre XV |url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios1946.htm |website=cardinals.fiu.edu |publisher=Florida International University |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323230822/https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios1946.htm |archive-date=23 March 2022}}
{{cite news |title=Armenian Catholic Church to begin canonization cause of Cardinal Agagianian on October 28 |url=https://www.shalomworld.org/news/armenian-catholic-church-to-begin-canonization-cause-of-cardinal-agagianian-on-october-28 |agency=Shalom World |date=August 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220830170825/https://www.shalomworld.org/news/armenian-catholic-church-to-begin-canonization-cause-of-cardinal-agagianian-on-october-28 |archive-date=30 August 2022}}
}}
=Bibliography=
- {{cite book|last=Adalian|first=Rouben Paul|title=Historical Dictionary of Armenia|year=2010|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Lanham, Maryland|isbn=978-0-8108-7450-3|author-link=Rouben Paul Adalian}}
- {{cite journal|last=Whooley|first=John|title=The Armenian Catholic Church: A Study in History and Ecclesiology|journal=The Heythrop Journal|date=October 2004|volume=45|issue=4|pages=416–434|doi=10.1111/j.1468-2265.2004.00264.x}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Healy |first1=Paul F. |title=The Gentle Armenian |journal=Catholic Digest |date=July 1961 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/the-catholic-digest-1961-07-vol-25-iss-9 97-103] |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_catholic-digest_1961-07_25_9}}
{{S-start}}
{{S-rel|ca}}
{{Succession box| before=Avedis Bedros XIV Arpiarian | title=Patriarch Catholicos of Cilicia | years= 30 November 1937 – 25 August 1962| after=Ignatius Bedros XVI Batanian}}
{{Succession box| before=Pietro Fumasoni Biondi | title=Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples | years=18 June 1958 – 19 October 1970| after=Agnelo Rossi}}
{{S-end}}
{{Commons}}
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{{Second Vatican Council}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Agagianian Gregorio Pietro}}
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