Pope Francis told Armenian
authorities Friday that the 1915-1916 slaughter of 1.5 million
Armenians was "a tragedy, a genocide".
It marked the beginning of a long list of "dreadful
catastrophes... made possible by aberrant racist, ideological or
religious motives, that clouded the minds of the tormentors to
the point where they...annihilated entire peoples," he said.
The pope recalled a commemoration last year in St Peter's
on the "centenary of the Metz Yeghern (Armenian for Great Evil
or Great Crime) that struck your people".
Francis went on to say "it is of vital importance that all
who declare faith in God unite... to isolate whoever uses
religion to undertake projects of war, of subjugation and of
violent persecution, exploiting and manipulating the holy name
of God for their own purposes".
The pontiff arrived in Armenia's capital today for a
three-day apostolic visit to the "first Christian country", the
14th international trip of his pontificate.
The visit will focus on consolidating relations with the
Armenian Apostolic Church and encouraging the local minority
Catholic Church, as well as recognition and support of Christian
"martyrs" killed in persecution and massacres such as that of
the Ottoman government in the Armenian Genocide of 1915.
Pope Francis's willingness to use the term genocide has
created tension with Turkey, which refuses to use the term to
describe the mass slaughter.
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