Surrounded by the main authorities of the Armenian churches and government of the Armenian state in St. Peter's Basilica, the Pope called the leaders around the world to recognize the Armenian genocide and "hide" because "deny evil is like letting a wound continues to bleed without heal," according reproduced news agency EFE .
Francisco spoke to a basilica filled at the start of a special ceremony dedicated to the centenary of the beginning of the killings and massacres committed by the Ottoman Empire, which left about a million and a half Armenian dead and hundreds of
displaced thousands. for the leader of the Catholic Church, the Armenian was the first of three genocides "massive and unprecedented" in the last century. Followed those committed by the "Nazism and Stalinism."
"It seems that the human family refuses to learn from its own mistakes caused by the law of terror. And even today, some people try to eliminate their peers with the help of complicit silence of others who remain spectators, "lamented Francisco, a regular denouncing the dramatic human consequences of current armed conflicts in the Middle East and Europe.
on several occasions, the maximum leader of the Catholic Church warned of the current existence of a "third world war by parties," which lives in different parts of the world through "heinous crimes and bloody massacres", protected by a "complicit silence" of the international community .
the words of Francisco today caused both immediate appreciation of the Armenian religious authorities who were leading with him the Mass in St. Peter's Basilica as the repudiation of the Turkish government, the political heir of the Ottoman Empire, ie , the responsible for the genocide committed during the years of the First World War. (See: Centennial of the Armenian Genocide: commemorative activities)
Ankara recognizes that there were massacres and to major expulsions of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during the call Great War, but refuses flatly to speak of genocide, because it maintains that there was no intention of wanting to exterminate these people, a claim that many historians reject.
Therefore, as soon as the message today Francisco was known, the Turkish government recalled its ambassador to the Vatican and canceled a press conference that the diplomat had planned for this afternoon, according to the Turkish daily Hurriyet in its online edition.
according to BBC , the Turkish Foreign Ministry he was "disappointed" by the Pope's message and warned that it caused "a problem of trust."
Inside the Basilica of San Pedro, however, the response of the Armenian leaders was total gratitude.
Source: Telam