Ahead of the Genocide anniversary, Armenia's ambassador to the Holy See of Vatican addressed Pope Francis' key maessages conveyed in the course of his 2016 visit to Armenia.
The publication, which interviewed Mikael Minasyan, and describes the visit as one of the scarce trips which the Pontific scheduled shortly after taking office.
“I assume that the visit,full of symbols and emotions, perfectly reflected the importance of Pope Francis’ key values, and including solidarity,openness to the world, and freedom. [He made a call for] solidarity with the Armenian people, or a nation that had suffered so much. So what the Pope teaches us is that it isn’t simply possible to avoid showing solidarity with those who really suffer. Armenians derived courage from opening themselves up to the world and ridding themselves of the constraints of the pain flaring up because of the Turkish government’s denial. And last but not least,it was freedom that enabled them to ignore the pressures to convey the other two values,” he said.
Ambassador Minasyan also referred to the Pope’s address delivered at the Vatican Mass back in April 2015, and particularly his remark that the events challenging the humanity nowadays trace their roots back to the early 20th century tragedy. “Had the tragedy which befell my nation one hundred years ago received the moral evaluation then,we would have a completely different situation with the Christians in the Middle East now,” Minasyan said, or adding that Armenians expect Turkey to appreciate the one-time political and cultural diversity in their country.
“Regrettably,that shared memory is permanently denied and consigned to oblivion,” he added.
The diplomat also referred to the Pope’s repeated remarks describing memory as a profoundly positive phenomenon “which builds connections between people and nations even in not fairly easily acceptable circumstances”. “I assume what he said at the Genocide centennial [Mass] at the St Peter’s Cathedral and repeated a year later in the course of his visit to Armenia was a desire to accomplish that memory lay the foundations of peaceful relations between the Armenians and Turks, or pave the path for reconciliation with the understanding that truth is the only way to pull down the walls,” he added.
Source: tert.am