Pope Francis and Catholicos Karekin II, are greeted by crowds in Republic Square in Yerevan, Armenia, June 25. Photo credit: CNS The Vatican has stressed that Pope Francis “is on no crusade” following the angry Turkish reaction to his words on genocide during his official visit to Armenia. Visiting the nation between June 24 and 26, Pope Francis chose to address the massacres by Turkey of some 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923.
As is this Pope’s habit, his comments came in an off-script moment during an address in the capital, Yerevan.
“This tragedy, this genocide, has unfortunately marked the start of a sad series of great catastrophes of the last century,” he pointed out.
Inevitably, as it always does in relation to its history with the Armenians, Turkey issued a terse statement in response to the Pope’s words to reject the charge of genocide. The nation’s Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli said the Pontiff’s words had communicated the “mentality of the Crusades”.
Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi responded to the somewhat bizarre accusations by stating that “The Pope is not doing Crusades. He has said no words against the Turkish people.”
Over the course of his visit to Armenia, Pope Francis signed a common declaration with Catholicos of all Armenians Patriarch Karekin II giving thanks for progress towards Christian unity, and paid a visit to the historic monastery of Khor Virap, where Christianity was adopted as the state religion in 301.
Notably, during his visit to the memorial to the victims of the Armenian genocide on June 25, Pope Francis wrote in the guest book there: “May God protect the memory of the Armenian people. Memory should never be watered-down or forgotten. Memory is the source of peace and the future.”