Churches end 1,500-year rift

VATICAN CITY - The Roman Catholic and Armenian Churches yesterday formally buried a theological controversy that had divided …

VATICAN CITY - The Roman Catholic and Armenian Churches yesterday formally buried a theological controversy that had divided them for 1,500 years Pope John Paul and Karekin I, spiritual leader of the world's some six million Armenian Christians, issued a common declaration officially ending the controversy over the nature of Christ.

The controversy dates back to the sixth century when the Council of Chalcedon condemned those, including Armenian Christians, who asserted that Christ had only a divine and not also a human nature.