Catholicos Patriarch Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni of the Armenian Catholic Church has passed away at the age of 75.

He died of a heart attack Thursday morning in the Lebanese capital city of Beirut.

The patriarch was born in Cairo, educated in Rome, and he was ordained a priest in 1965. In 1999, he was ordained Catholicos Patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church.

Upon the proposal and at the initiative of Patriarch Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, Pope Francis had offered a mass, in April at the St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, devoted to the Armenian Genocide Centennial.

The late Catholicos Patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church was also very instrumental in having Armenian Saint Gregory of Narek proclaimed by Pope Francis a Doctor of the Universal Church.