Pope commemorates Armenian Genocide centennial, calls it “first
genocide of the 20th century”

11:52, 12 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Pope Francis used the word “genocide” on Sunday (Apr 12) to describe
the 1915 mass murder of Armenians.

“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 20th century’, struck your own Armenian
people,” he said during a mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica, citing a
2000 statement signed by John Paul II and the Armenian patriarch, AFP
reports.

“The first, which is widely considered ‘the first genocide of the 20th
century’, struck your own Armenian people,” he said, citing a
statement signed by John Paul II and the Armenian patriarch in 2000.

Francis said the other two genocides of the 20th century were
“perpetrated by Nazism and Stalinism.”

“And more recently there have been other mass killings, like those in
Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia. It seems that humanity is
incapable of putting a halt to the shedding of innocent blood,” he
added.