The Week
April 12 2015
Pope Francis: Armenian slaughter the ‘first genocide of the twentieth century’
Pope Francis on Sunday described the mass killing of an estimated 1.5
million Armenians as the “first genocide of the twentieth century,”
angering Turkey which refuses to acknowledge the slaughter in such
stark terminology.
“In the past century, our human family has lived through three massive
and unprecedented tragedies,” the pontiff, citing a declaration from
his predecessor John Paul II, said at a ceremonial Mass to mark the
centennial of the killings. “The first, which is widely considered
‘the first genocide of the twentieth century,’ struck your own
Armenian people.”
Turkey, which continues to deny the genocide ever took place,
immediately summoned a Vatican ambassador to explain the remarks. Jon
Terbush