Pope Francis urges world to recognise genocide

Pope Francis yesterday honoured the 100th anniversary of the slaughter of Armenians by calling it “the first genocide of the 20th century” and urging the international community to recognise it as such, a politically explosive declaration that angered Turkey.

Francis, who has close ties to the Armenian community from his days in Argentina, defended his pronouncement, saying it was his duty to honour the memory of the innocent men, women, children, priests, and bishops who 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 honouring the centenary.

In a subsequent message directed at all Armenians, Francis called on all heads of state and international organisations to recognize the truth of what transpired and oppose such crimes “without ceding to ambiguity or compromise”.

Historians estimate that up to 1.5m Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of the First World War. Turkey, however, 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 recognising the Armenian massacre as genocide.

Turkey summoned the Vatican’s Ankara envoy to express its unease after the Pope’s remarks.

Turkey has long refused to call the event a genocide and has insisted that the toll has been inflated, and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

Francis’s words had an immediate effect in St Peter’s, bolstering the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Aram I, to thank Francis for his clear condemnation and recall 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 at the end of the Mass to applause from the pews.

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 recognise the massacres as genocide, but Italy and the US, for example, have avoided using the term officially, given the importance they place on Turkey as an ally.

The Holy See, too, places great importance in its relationship with the moderate Muslim nation, especially as it demands Muslim leaders condemn the slaughter of Christians by Muslim extremists in neighbouring Iraq and Syria.

Francis is not the first pope to call the massacre a genocide. In his remarks, Francis cited a 2001 declaration signed by St John Paul II and the Armenian church leader, Karenkin II, which said the deaths were considered “the first genocide of the 20th century”.

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI avoided using the term “genocide” in his pontificate.

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