I am ready to sit down and discuss the reform agenda of the Armenian Apostolic Church if he accepts that agenda, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday announced during the debates on the five-year program of the new Armenian government at the session of the National Assembly.

“If Karekin II, or Ktrich Nersisyan [i.e. the birth name of Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II] accepts the reform agenda of the Armenian Apostolic Church, I will solemnly declare from this rostrum that I will sit down and discuss that agenda with him with full respect. I never said that there are ‘ours’ and ‘not ours’... The reform agenda of the Armenian Apostolic Church is clearly worded: rules of piety, and clear mechanisms for maintaining those rules.

How can we reconcile ourselves with the fact that our sanctuary of holiness has been attacked? Let's put everything aside: if you want, call him Catholicos, if you want—Karekin II, if you want, Ktrich Nersisyan. Behind all this are facts that every citizen of the Republic of Armenia and every believer knows about,” Pashinyan said, alluding to the rumors that Catholicos Karekin II has violated his vow of celibacy and fathers a child.

And referring to the statement by the head of the opposition “Strong Armenia” Faction in parliament, Narek Karapetyan, that 97 percent of Armenian citizens trust the Armenian Apostolic Church, Pashinyan added: “Of course they believe. And that is the problem.

The fact that 97 percent of the citizens of the Republic of Armenia believe, whereas the head of the [Armenian Apostolic] Church does not believe in God at all. He has no spiritual life. He has renounced his vow to God, and this betrayal was imposed on all of us. I am not ready to bear accountability for that betrayal.”