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International Business Times
April 12 2015
Pope Brands Armenian Killings 100 Years Ago 'Genocide', In Move Likely
To Anger Turkey
By Mark Hanrahan
In a move likely to strain the Vatican's diplomatic relations with
Turkey, Pope Francis referred to a mass killing of Armenians in the
early 20th century as "genocide," during a religious service to mark
the 100th anniversary of the deaths.
"In the past century our human family has lived through three massive
and unprecedented tragedies," Francis said during mass in Saint
Peter's Basilica on Sunday morning. "The first, which is widely
considered 'the first genocide of the 20th century', struck your own
Armenian people," he said, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Armenia and many historians say as many as 1.5 million people were
systematically killed by Ottoman forces in 1915, according to the BBC.
Turkey, however, denies that the deaths represent genocide, saying
that the death toll had been inflated, and that many of those killed
were victims of partisan fighting.
The incident continues to cast a pall over relations between the two countries.
So far, reaction from the Turkish government has been muted. Turkey's
embassy to the Holy See canceled a planned news conference for Sunday,
presumably after learning that the pope would utter the word
"genocide" over its objections, the Associated Press reported.
The Pontiff has close ties to the Armenian community from his days in
Argentina, and said that it was his duty to honor the memory of those
who were "senselessly" murdered.
"Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding
without bandaging it," he added.
In the service, the Pope also referred to the Holocaust and Stalinism,
and mass killings in countries including Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and
Bosnia that took place during the last century.
Francis is not the first Pope to describe the killings as genocide.
Pope John Paul John Paul II used the word in a joint statement signed
with the Armenian patriarch in 2000.
The move, however, provoked outrage in Turkey, and during a trip to
the country the following year the then-Pontiff used the term "great
evil" to describe the killings instead, according to RTE News.
http://www.ibtimes.com/pope-brands-armenian-killings-100-years-ago-genocide-move-likely-anger-turkey-1878633
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
April 12 2015
Pope Brands Armenian Killings 100 Years Ago 'Genocide', In Move Likely
To Anger Turkey
By Mark Hanrahan
In a move likely to strain the Vatican's diplomatic relations with
Turkey, Pope Francis referred to a mass killing of Armenians in the
early 20th century as "genocide," during a religious service to mark
the 100th anniversary of the deaths.
"In the past century our human family has lived through three massive
and unprecedented tragedies," Francis said during mass in Saint
Peter's Basilica on Sunday morning. "The first, which is widely
considered 'the first genocide of the 20th century', struck your own
Armenian people," he said, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Armenia and many historians say as many as 1.5 million people were
systematically killed by Ottoman forces in 1915, according to the BBC.
Turkey, however, denies that the deaths represent genocide, saying
that the death toll had been inflated, and that many of those killed
were victims of partisan fighting.
The incident continues to cast a pall over relations between the two countries.
So far, reaction from the Turkish government has been muted. Turkey's
embassy to the Holy See canceled a planned news conference for Sunday,
presumably after learning that the pope would utter the word
"genocide" over its objections, the Associated Press reported.
The Pontiff has close ties to the Armenian community from his days in
Argentina, and said that it was his duty to honor the memory of those
who were "senselessly" murdered.
"Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding
without bandaging it," he added.
In the service, the Pope also referred to the Holocaust and Stalinism,
and mass killings in countries including Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and
Bosnia that took place during the last century.
Francis is not the first Pope to describe the killings as genocide.
Pope John Paul John Paul II used the word in a joint statement signed
with the Armenian patriarch in 2000.
The move, however, provoked outrage in Turkey, and during a trip to
the country the following year the then-Pontiff used the term "great
evil" to describe the killings instead, according to RTE News.
http://www.ibtimes.com/pope-brands-armenian-killings-100-years-ago-genocide-move-likely-anger-turkey-1878633
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress