After decades of conflict, the prime minister of Armenia and the president of Azerbaijan signed a peace agreement on Friday, August 8 in Washington, D.C.
The White House hosted the two countries' leaderships in order to finalize a peace agreement that President Trump described as “a long time coming.”
The two countries have been at war with each other for the past 37 years over territory and border disputes along the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Nagorno-Karabakh was created by the Soviet Union in 1923, but with the fall of communism, war erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Christians found themselves caught in the middle.
In response to this decades long conflict, Pope Francis went on pilgrimage to both countries in 2016 and spoke of peace and dialogue while visiting.
However, for many suffering from the conflict, those visits were not enough. In 2020, a group of Armenian-Christians visited the Vatican with signs of peace to encourage Pope Francis to directly call out the Armenian persecution in the conflict.
Pope Francis then called for a cease-fire in 2023 between the two warring states, noting the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in the area.
POPE FRANCIS
Yesterday, I received worrying news from Nagorno-Karabakh, in the southern Caucasus, where the already critical humanitarian situation has now been worsened by further armed clashes. I want to appeal to all parties and to the international community to cease fire and make an effort to find a peaceful solution for the good of all people and the respect of human dignity.
Finally now, in the year 2025, Pope Leo XIV was able to celebrate a peace deal between the two countries, hailing the agreement as a significant step forward.
POPE LEO XIV
I congratulate Armenia and Azerbaijan, which have achieved the signing of the Joint Peace Declaration,” Pope Leo told pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square on August 10. “I hope that this event will contribute to a stable and lasting peace in the South Caucasus.
However, despite the Vatican and others celebrating the peace agreement, serious issues still remain on the table. For example, it's still unknown exactly what will happen to the 100,000 Armenian Christians who were expelled from Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan following the 2023 attack.
CRT
