ANCA statement on Pope Francis reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide

20:01, 12 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram
Hamparian offered the following comment regarding Pope Francis
statement reaffirming the Armenian Genocide, made earlier today during
an unprecedented Vatican mass commemorating the 100th anniversary of
that crime.

“Turkey underestimates, at its own risk, the power of our worldwide
movement – a profoundly moral movement inspired by truth and driven by
our shared hope for a fair and enduring peace based on a just
international resolution of the Armenian Genocide,” stated Hamparian.

In remarks delivered at the opening of the commemorative mass, Pope
Francis noted, “In the past century our human family has lived through
three massive and unprecedented tragedies. The first, which is widely
considered “the first genocide of the twentieth century”, struck your
own Armenian people, the first Christian nation, as well as Catholic
and Orthodox Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Greeks. Bishops and
priests, religious, women and men, the elderly and even defenceless
children and the infirm were murdered.”

Pope Francis went on to state that, “It is necessary, and indeed a
duty, to honour their memory, for whenever memory fades, it means that
evil allows wounds to fester. Concealing or denying evil is like
allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it!”

At the end of the mass, His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great
House of Cilicia, thanked Pope Francis for his reaffirmation of truth,
and stated, “International law spells out clearly that condemnation,
recognition and reparation of a genocide are closely interconnected.”
He went on to note that 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.”

In his remarks, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians, stated “Our ancient people were uprooted
from their cradle and historic homeland and scattered around the
world. Our centuries-old Christian heritage was torn down, destroyed
and seized. However, nothing — neither suffering, nor persecution or
even death — forced our people to renounce their sacred faith.”

From: A. Papazian