Spiritual Alliance

The three-day visit in late June was the result of a personal invitation from His Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church and Catholicos of All Armenians, and President Serzh Sargsyan. The papal visit garnered widespread international media coverage that focused on the Pope's political message delivered within hours of his arrival on Armenian soil. From the Presidential Palace in Yerevan, Pope [Francis] urged the world to never forget or minimize the Armenian Genocide, ad-libbing the word "genocide" that was conspicuously absent from his prepared text. "Sadly that tragedy, that genocide, was the first of the deplorable series of catastrophes of the past century," he declared, "made possible by the twisted racial, ideological, or religious aims that darken the minds of the tormentors, even to the point of planning the annihilation of entire peoples." In the evening Pope Francis delivered a Prayer for Peace in Yerevan's Republic Square in front of a huge crowd of50,000, according to estimates from the Vatican. With His Holiness Karekin II, die Supreme Patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church, at his side, Pope Francis once again returned to the theme of memory. "Memory, infused with love, becomes capable of setting out on new and unexpected paths, where designs of hatred become projects of reconciliation, where hope arises for a better future for everyone," he said. I am most grateful to you, Mr. President, for your kind words of welcome in the name of the government and people of Armenia, and for your gracious invitation that has made it possible to reciprocate the visit you made to the Vatican last year. There you attended the solemn celebration in Saint Peter's Basilica, together with Their Holinesses Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch-Catholicos of All Armenians, and Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, and His Beatitude Nerses Bedros XIX, Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians, recently deceased. The occasion was the commemoration of the centenary of the Metz Yeghem, the "Great Evil" that struck your people and caused the death of a vast multitude of persons. Sadly, that tragedy, that genocide, was the first of the deplorable series of catastrophes of the past century, made possible by twisted racial, ideological or religious aims that darkened the minds of the tormentors even to the point of planning the annihilation of entire peoples.