Argentine-Armenians have warm relations with Pope Francis

YEREVAN, 25 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. The Armenians of Córdoba city of Argentina enthusiastically have followed the historical Divine Liturgy offered by Pope Francis in the St. Peter Cathedral of Vatican, during which Pope of the Catholic Church the events of 1915 had called the first genocide of the 20th century. Argentinean lawyer Juan Carlos Merdinyan stressed this in a talk with “Armenpress”, who arrived in Armenia, historical fatherland, to participate in the commemorative events of April 24.

"At that time I was in the Vatican. It was a very touching historical moment. My wife informed me by phone, that the local Armenians follow the liturgy. In Vatican we saw 1000-1500 came from different countries of the world”, Merdinyan said and added that the Pope's statement could have two important effects. "The Vatican has a great impact on the Catholic world. On the other hand, we are aware of the events, when Catholics of Turkey left for USA and apologized to the Armenians. Therefore, it can also generate a new movement in Turkey," he said.

Previously it was reported that in his sermon during the Divine Liturgy dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide offered in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis called the mass killings and massacres of the Armenian people in the Ottoman Turkey in 1915 a Genocide. He said that the slaughter of the Armenians was the first genocide of the 20th century.

Among other things, Pope Francis said the Armenian killings were the first of three "massive and unprecedented" genocides that was followed by the Holocaust and Stalinism. He said others had followed, including in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia.

The Pope welcomed the President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians His Holiness Karekin II, the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I and the Catholicos Patriarch of the House of Cilicia Nerses Petros XIX, who attended the liturgy.

Pope Francis also honored the Armenian community at the start of the Mass by pronouncing a 10th-century Armenian mystic, St. Gregory of Narek, a doctor of the church. Only 35 people have been given the title, which is reserved for those whose writings have greatly served the universal church.