Armenian Church condemns ruling party programme envisioning removal of Catholi

The Armenian Apostolic Church has said it ‘strongly condemns’ the ruling Civil Contract party’s election programme, which includes support for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Church reform agenda aimed at toppling Catholicos Karekin II.

They called the provisions concerning the Church ‘unacceptable’.

Civil Contract published its election programme earlier in April, ahead of the country’s 7 June parliamentary elections.

The programme outlines support for Pashinyan’s proposed Church reform, which includes a four-step ‘roadmap’. The first step envisions the removal of Catholicos Karekin II, followed by the election of a Catholicos Locum Tenens.

The third step proposes the adoption of a statute for the Church to elect a new leader, among other issues, and the final step would be the election of a new Catholicos.

These steps echoed the Church reform agenda initiated by Pashinyan in January, along with 10 senior clergy members, which raised widespread concern that the move may have violated the constitution.

Armenia is a secular state, and its constitution draws clear boundaries between the state and religious institutions. In particular, Article 17 states that ‘the freedom of activities of religious organisations shall be guaranteed’ in the country.

The constitution further limits the actions of state officials, stating that they ‘shall be entitled to perform only such actions for which they are authorised under the constitution or laws’.

The move came amidst tense relations between the Church and Pashinyan’s government since May 2025, after Pashinyan criticised Church leadership for failing to properly maintain churches across the country. As accusations against the Church, and specifically against Karekin II, continued to grow, Pashinyan gradually made clear that he was seeking to oust the Catholicos.

Citing the provisions of the programme, the Church accused the authorities on Thursday of overstepping their powers, stating that such actions ‘constitutes a clear violation of the constitutional order, an encroachment on the Church’s right to self-governance, and a breach of fundamental international principles of freedom of conscience and religion’.

‘Pre-election promises to continue manifestly illegal actions against the Church once again demonstrate the full anti-Church character and objectives of the ruling political force’s ideology’, the statement read.

The Church emphasised that the election of the Catholicos and any changes in Church life fall under the Church’s own authority and lie ‘beyond the competence of political parties and state authorities’.

The Church warned that such actions ‘undermine spiritual security’.

However, Civil Contract has also invoked ‘spiritual security’ as a justification for supporting the reform agenda.

The party’s programme, echoing previous statements by Pashinyan, claims that the activities of the Church’s leadership in ‘recent decades’ have led to the alienation of ‘the community of believers’.

‘This constitutes, among other things, a matter of spiritual security, as it has created an opportunity for external forces to attempt to turn the […] Church into a base for hybrid actions against the independence and sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia’, the justification of the move read.

At the same time, the party said it ‘respects’ freedom of religion and ‘reaffirms’ that Armenia is a secular state ‘where, according to the Constitution, religious organisations are separate from the state’.

They instead claimed that the Church reform agenda ‘serves the full restoration of the constitutional order of […] Armenia by removing the Church from politics’.