Armenian genocide dreadful says Francis

(ANSA) - Yerevan, June 24 - 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.