Vatican City--Pope Francis uttered the word "genocide" on Sunday to describe the mass murder of Armenians 100 years ago, sparking anger from Turkey which summoned the Vatican's ambassador for an explanation.
"In the past century our human family has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies," he said during a solemn mass in Saint Peter's Basilica to mark the centenary of the Ottoman killings of Armenians.
"The first, which is widely considered 'the first genocide of the 20th century', struck your own Armenian people," he said, quoting a statement signed by Pope John Paul II and the Armenian patriarch in 2001.
Many historians describe the slaughter as the 20th century's first genocide, but Turkey hotly denies the accusation.
Ankara summoned the Vatican envoy and an official statement from the foreign ministry is expected later Sunday, television reports said. The pope's comments were extensively reported on the country's main news websites.
"The pope, the first guest in the palace, used the world 'genocide'," said the Cumhuriyet daily on its website, referring ironically to the fact that the pope was President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's first top-ranking visitor to his new presidential palace in Ankara when he visited Turkey in November 2014.
While Francis did not use his own words to describe the as genocide, it was the first time the term was spoken aloud in connection with Armenia by a head of the Roman Catholic Church in Saint Peter's Basilica.
"It was a very courageous act to repeat clearly that it was a genocide," Vatican expert Marco Tosatti told AFP.
"By quoting John Paul II he strengthened the Church's position, making it clear where it stands on the issue," he added.
AFP
