Patriarch Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian presented the award to Msgr. Vaccari at a luncheon on 1 May at the Armenian Pontifical College in Rome. Msgr. Vaccari is only the second person in the world to receive the award.
Thomas Varghese, CNEWA’s director of programs, and Brian McGinley, CNEWA’s director of development, were present. The ambassadors of Armenia and Lebanon to the Holy See, and priests and seminarians of the Armenian College were also present.
Msgr. Vaccari was in Rome that week for a series of CNEWA events organized in the context of what has become known as “American Week” in the local Catholic community, with programming centering around events at the Pontifical North American College.
When he was invited to the luncheon, he thought it would be an opportunity to talk about CNEWA, because Patriarch Minassian “is one of the most lively and articulate supporters of the mission of CNEWA,” he said.
However, during the meeting, his host asked all to stand and began to speak about the origins of CNEWA and how, even before CNEWA formally began as a pontifical agency, it had been caring for Armenian children orphaned in the Armenian genocide of 1915-1923.
The patriarch then bestowed the honor to Msgr. Vaccari for his unwavering commitment to serve the poor and vulnerable. Msgr. Vaccari said he was pleased to accept the award on behalf of CNEWA.
Msgr. Vaccari spoke of the importance of Armenia — where Eastern Christianity has thrived since the fourth century — in CNEWA’s mandate, formally instituted by Pope Pius IX in 1926, to care for “all Eastern Catholics … who are suffering,” he said.
Since caring for those displaced by the Armenian genocide — and throughout Armenia’s challenges in modern history, including its independence from the Soviet Union — CNEWA has continued to offer ongoing pastoral and humanitarian assistance through its partners, most notably Caritas Armenia and the Armenian Catholic Ordinariate.
Most recently, CNEWA’s work in Armenia has focused on assisting thousands of ethnic Armenians who were displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh when Azerbaijan seized control of the ethnically Armenian region on 20 September 2023.
“I’m very grateful to our donors, because they are the ones … who are the instruments of healing and hope,” Msgr. Vaccari said of CNEWA’s work in Armenia and other countries.