Vice President JD Vance’s upcoming February visit to Azerbaijan and Armenia is drawing renewed attention to a recent appeal urging Pope Leo XIV to press for the release of Artsakh-Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijani custody.
President Donald Trump announced the visit Jan. 24 on Truth Social, describing it as part of an effort to advance the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity,” a proposed transportation corridor linking Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave through southern Armenia. The proposal also calls for broader economic and security cooperation between the U.S. and Azerbaijan.
“We will strengthen our strategic partnership with Azerbaijan, a beautiful Agreement for Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation with Armenia,” Trump wrote. “Deals for our Great Semiconductor Makers, and the sale of Made in the U.S.A. Defense Equipment, such as body armor and boats, and more, to Azerbaijan.”
The slated visit follows a peace agreement signed in Washington in August 2025 that formally ended the territorial dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh (also known as Artsakh). Reuters reported that under the agreement, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to recognize each other’s territorial integrity, refrain from the use of force, and abide by international law.
The upcoming diplomatic engagement has renewed focus on a December letter in which Catholic and Armenian Apostolic leaders urged Pope Leo to intervene on behalf of at least 23 prisoners detained after Azerbaijan’s 2023 military seizure of Nagorno-Karabakh.
According to a Dec. 24 report at The Christian Post, the signatories said the men, prisoners of war, remain imprisoned in Azerbaijan under deteriorating conditions. The leaders warned that the prisoners’ continued detention — alongside the reported destruction of Christian heritage sites — poses a serious humanitarian threat.
The letter was signed by more than a dozen leaders, led by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York and Archbishop Anoushavan Tanielian of the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America. It was sent to the Holy Father ahead of Christmas 2025. There are no public reports indicating whether Pope Leo has responded to the appeal.
According to the Post, the prisoners — primarily former officials from Nagorno-Karabakh — are among roughly 80 individuals still unaccounted for following Azerbaijan’s takeover of the region, which displaced more than 120,000 ethnic Armenians and ended three decades of de facto local independence. The region had been predominantly Armenian in population and self-governed since 1991, though it was internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, the outlet reported.
The letter raised concerns that Azerbaijani authorities have denied detainees access to legal protections, restricted family contact, and violated their Christian faith while in custody.
“Communication with their families, already limited, has worsened since Azerbaijan expelled the Red Cross from the country last year. Their Christian faith — and their dignity as human persons — are being crushed,” the letter stated.
The United Nations Committee Against Torture in May 2024 highlighted concerning reports of torture, arbitrary detention, and judicial harassment of Armenians in Azerbaijan.
Signatories also pointed to what they described as a broader campaign against Armenian Christian heritage, including the destruction of ancient churches and monasteries.
“Azerbaijan’s campaign extends beyond the imprisonment of the living to the destruction of sacred heritage itself,” the letter stated. “Recent documentation reveals that Azerbaijan has systematically destroyed more Christian monuments and churches in Nagorno-Karabakh than ISIS destroyed in Iraq and Syria — an erasure of nearly two millennia of Christian civilization, including medieval churches, monasteries, and countless sacred sites.”