Pope Prays that Divine Mercy Might Help Reconciliation Over Armenian Genocide

The Catholic Herald (UK) ^ | 4/9/15 | Staff Reporter

[marshmallow]

Francis laments that nations have 'not yet reached a consensus on the reading of such sorrowful events'

Pope Francis has prayed that the Divine Mercy might hasten reconciliation over the deaths of more than a million Armenians a century ago in what is commonly referred to as the Armenian genocide.

The Pope made the comment during a meeting with Armenian bishops and faithful ahead of a Mass on Sunday that will mark the 100th anniversary of the massacre.

In his prepared remarks he prayed that the Divine Mercy “might help us all, in love for truth and justice, to heal every wound and to hasten concrete gestures of reconciliation and peace among the nations that have not yet reached a consensus on the reading of such sorrowful events”.

According to Vatican Radio, the Pope noted the long history of Christianity in Armenia, which goes back to 301, when Armenia became the first Christian nation. Pope Francis called on the bishops to “always cultivate a feeling of gratitude to the Lord”.

He also paid tribute to those who worked to relieve the suffering of the Armenian people during the “Great Crime”, notably Pope Benedict XV, who tried to intervene with the Ottoman rulers to stop the massacre.

[2banana]

Muslims killing Christians

Nothing has changed in 1700 years of Muslim conquest

[A CA Guy]

How about the American abortion genocide?

[livius]

I think (or hope, at least) that Francis is talking about reconciliation between Orthodox and Catholics, since the two groups hate each other in the Balkans and Turkey, which of course is one of the things the Muslims took advantage of to overrun them.

On the other hand, it’s never possible to know what Francis is talking about. Maybe he thinks the Armenians should apologize to the Muslims.

[Tax-chick]

It certainly can’t hurt.