Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract Party (CCP) and its parliamentary faction are not removing the matter of the attaining the resignation of the Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, from their agenda.

During the press briefing after the government’s Cabinet session Thursday, reporters asked the CCP member, Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan, whether the aforesaid matter had been removed from their agenda, given that the discussions on this topic had died down.

The minister assured, however, that nothing had been removed from the agenda of the ruling party in Armenia.

“It is impossible to be a follower of the Armenian Apostolic Church and come to terms with the idea that the entire [Armenian Apostolic Church] elite—or a large part of it—has problems with the vow of celibacy,” Papoyan said.

To note, however, breaking the vow of celibacy is not a criminal offense in Armenia.