Pope Francis yesterday acknowledged the 100th anniversary of a slaughter of Armenians by calling it “the first genocide of the 20th century,” urging the international community to recognize it as such, a politically explosive declaration that is expected to anger Turkey.
Francis, who has close ties to the Armenian community from his days in Argentina, defended his pronouncement by saying it was his duty to honor the memory of the innocent men, women, children, priests and bishops who he said were “senselessly” murdered by Ottoman Turks.
“Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it,” he said at the start of a Mass in the Armenian Catholic rite in St Peter’s Basilica honoring the centenary.
Photo: AFP
Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by academics as the first genocide of the 20th century.
However, Turkey refuses to call it a genocide and has insisted that the toll has been inflated, and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest. It has fiercely lobbied to prevent countries, including the Holy See, from officially recognizing the Armenian massacre as genocide.
Turkey’s embassy to the Holy See canceled a news conference planned for yesterday. Requests for comment went unanswered and there was no official word from the government in Ankara.
Francis’ words had immediate effect in St Peter’s, inspiring one leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I, to thank Francis for his clear condemnation and add that “genocide” is a crime against humanity that requires reparation.
“International law spells out clearly that condemnation, recognition and reparation of a genocide are closely interconnected,” Aram said in English at the end of the Mass to applause from the pews.
Speaking as if he were at a political rally, Aram said the Armenian cause is a cause of justice, and that justice is a gift of God.
“Therefore, the violation of justice is a sin against God,” he said.
Several European countries recognize the massacres as genocide, though Italy and the US, for example, have avoided using the term officially given the importance they place on Turkey as an ally.
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