Pope prays at Armenia memorial after denouncing ‘genocide’

Arriving in Armenia, Pope Francis went straight to the twin concerns of his three-day visit: Promoting Christian unity and honoring the determined survival of Armenian Christianity despite a historic massacre and decades of Soviet domination.

“This tragedy, this genocide unfortunately opened a sad list of awful tragedies in the last century caused by abhorrent racial, ideological or religious motives that blinded the minds of the executioners to the point where their goal was the annihilation of entire population”, he said.

Members of the audience gave the pontiff’s a standing ovation after he made the speech.

“One can not but believe in the triumph of justice when in 100 years… the message of justice is being conveyed to mankind from the heart of the Catholic world”, marveled President Sargsyn in his speech to the pope.

The number of casualties is heavily disputed by Turkey, who says the number is nowhere near the Armenian claim of 1.5 million, but more along the lines of 300,000.

Turkey accepts many Christian Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War I, but contests the figures and denies the killings were systematically orchestrated and constitute a genocide.

“There is no reason not to use this word in this case”, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters on Friday night. As the Pope and Patriarch processed down the aisle between crowds of flag-waving faithful, a deacon led them, swinging an incense burner.

Speaking to journalists aboard the Papal plane during his journey to the Armenian capital, Yerevan, the Pope said the referendum result must be respected because it was wanted by the people. His 2015 declaration that the massacres were considered a “genocide” sealed their affection for him.

Turkey waited more than 24 hours to react, indicating it did not want the incident to blow up into a new diplomatic dispute. “May God bless and protect Armenia, a land illumined by the faith, the courage of the martyrs and that hope which proves stronger than any suffering”.

On June 2, Germany’s Bundestag passed a resolution qualifying the Ottoman era Armenian killings as genocide.

In his initial remarks upon arrival in the ornate Armenian Apostolic Church in Etchmiadzin, Francis praised Armenia for becoming the first nation to declare Christianity the state religion in 301 and for keeping alive the “light of faith” even in its darkest times.

Francis has frequently denounced the slaughter of Christians by Islamic extremists in the Middle East, saying that the indiscriminate attacks against religious minorities is an “ecumenism of blood”, a martyrdom shared by all Christians. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyanis at left.

Following his visit to the genocide memorial, the Pope is due to travel Gyumri in the north-west of the country, where he will hold his only public Catholic Mass and a prayer for peace.