Pope Francis Names New Auxiliary Bishop of the Armenian Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Nareg in the United States and Canada

WASHINGTON – Pope Francis has appointed Monsignor Parsegh Baghdassarian, I.C.P.B., as Auxiliary Bishop of the Armenian Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Nareg in the United States and Canada. Bishop-elect Baghdassarian is a priest of the Institute of the Patriarchal Clergy of Bzommar (I.C.P.B.), a religious order, and currently serves as pastor of St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Catholic Cathedral in Glendale, California. The appointment was publicized in Washington, D.C. on April 3, 2024, by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The following biographical information for Bishop-elect Baghdassarian was drawn from preliminary materials provided to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops:

Monsignor Baghdassarian was born February 21, 1975, in Beirut, Lebanon. He entered St. Michael the Archangel Seminary in Bzommar in 1988. Bishop-elect Baghdassarian completed studies in philosophy and theology from 1993-1996 and continued his formation in theology in Rome, at the Gregorian University, and graduated with the Licentiate of Oriental Canon Law from the Pontifical Oriental Institute (1996-2001). He also obtained a diploma in the Formation of Educators at the Salesian Pontifical University (2011-2012). He was ordained to the priesthood for the Institute of the Patriarchal Clergy of Bzommar, an Armenian Catholic religious order, on September 2, 2000.

Bishop-elect Baghdassarian’s assignments after ordination include: vice-rector of St. Vartan Seminary in Aleppo, Syria (2001-2002); treasurer of Caritas in Damascus, Syria (2002-2007); general treasurer of the Institute of Bzommar (2007-2017); rector of the major and minor seminaries (2011-2017). In 2017, he was named pastor of the Cathedral of St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Catholic Cathedral of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Nareg in the United States and Canada, where he currently serves.

Bishop-elect Baghdassarian’s additional responsibilities for the Eparchy of Our Lady of Nareg in the United States and Canada have included serving as a judge of the Armenian Ecclesiastical Court of the Maronite Tribunal (2012), and as a representative of the Armenian Catholic Church for Caritas of Lebanon (2012).

The Armenian Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Nareg in the United States and Canada is comprised of the entire United States and Canada and has a total Catholic population of 51,000.

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