Paula White-Cain, a senior advisor to the White House Faith Office, also attended an Armenian Mass with Garegin at the end of her visit to Armenia primarily aimed at participating in an international “prayer breakfast” meeting hosted by Pashinian’s government.

According to the church’s Mother See, Garegin and White-Cain “emphasized the role of religion and spiritual values in building a safe, prosperous, and flourishing life for peoples.”

“In this regard, they highlighted the importance of spiritual leaders working together to advance peace throughout the world and contribute to a brighter future for peoples,” read a statement released by it.

The Catholicos was also reported to praise the American pastor for organizing a meeting between Trump and spiritual leaders of the Armenian community in the United States at the White House on September 16. White-Cain, who held a separate meeting with Pashinian on Thursday, did not make public statements or comment on her visit to Armenia on social media.

It was not clear whether she discussed Pashinian’s more than yearlong efforts to oust Garegin. The Armenian premier moved to reinvigorate his campaign, condemned by the church and the Armenian opposition as illegal, after his party’s victory in disputed parliamentary elections held in June.

“Slowly, systematically, millimeter by millimeter, painfully, we are going to see this through to the end,” he told reporters on Thursday. He reaffirmed his plans to enact “legislative amendments” for that purpose.

Pashinian’s Civil Contract party announced the next day its decision to set up an hoc commission of the Armenian parliament tasked with investigating “the church’s failure to fulfill its unique mission.” The parliament’s two opposition groups have already made clear that they will boycott the parliamentary inquiry they say violates the church’s separation from the state guaranteed by Armenia’s constitution.

The commission is supposed to look into a report released late last month by a government agency regarded by Pashinian’s critics as one of his main propaganda mouthpieces. The report essentially repeats Pashinian’s allegations against the top clergy and Garegin in particular.

The report has been dismissed by not only opposition leaders but also Armenian human rights activists. The latter say it is not backed up by factual evidence.

Pashinian began pressuring Garegin to resign in June 2025 shortly after the Catholicos accused Azerbaijan of committing ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh and illegally occupying Armenian border areas during an international conference in Switzerland. Three Armenian archbishops and one bishop were arrested in the following months on different charges strongly denied by them. Early this year, law-enforcement authorities also indicted but did not arrest Garegin himself as well as six other bishops.

The Trump administration has not criticized the crackdown. Trump endorsed Pashinian ahead of the June 7 parliamentary elections.