In March last year reports emerged of a nightmare unfolding in the Armenian town of Kassab in northern Syria. A horde of Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists descended on the city, forcing the Christian residents out of their ancestral homes. It was widely reported that the Turkish army had helped them or, at best, had turned a blind eye.
Fr. Lombardi said the subject of the mixed historic commission and the historical archives mentioned by Turkey’s president Erdogan is interesting.
The Vatican has taken stock of the criticisms Turkey directed at the Pope after Francis’ words on the Armenian “genocide”, adding it does not wish to enter into arguments. Through its spokesman, the Vatican defined the comment which the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan made yesterday about potentially opening the archives and creating a joint commission on the events of 1915 as “interesting”.
After the family of the woman sentenced to death on blasphemy grounds met the Pope at today’s General Audience, April 15, they continue their tour of Europe attending institutional meetings.
A journey of hope. During today’s meeting with the Pope, including a handkiss, after the Wednesday General Audience, Asia Bibi’s family entrusted Pope Francis with the suffering of an innocent woman who has been locked up in a Pakistani prison for the past five years and sentenced to death on false accusations of blasphemy.
Pope Francis' comments on the extermination of Armenian Christians in early 20th century Turkey prompted a strongly worded criticism from the Turkish Foreign Ministry and led to the withdrawal of Turkey's ambassador to the Holy See. But what's the full story?
As the April 24 centenary commemoration of the Armenian genocide approaches, tensions between Turkey and Armenia run high. Despite this, Pope Francis remembered the martyrdom of the Armenian people during his April 12 Mass at the Vatican.
The Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Cilicia says the presence of the Armenian people was an obstacle to the ideological plans of the Young Turks. This is why the genocide was planned. Those who bring the question of a religious clash between Islam and Christianity into today’s conflicts, obscures the reality.
John Paul II was the first Pope to use that word considered taboo in Turkey. And there were already signs of crisis with Ankara at the very start of Francis’ papacy.
Francis celebrates the Mass for the centenary of the extermination of 1.5 million Armenians. He cites the other two “unprecedented tragedies” perpetrated by Nazism and Stalinism, the mass killings in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia, and those suffered by Christians still today
“Christ, my hope, is arisen,” the Church proclaims on Easter Sunday.
This hope is augmented on Divine Mercy Sunday. Celebrated on April 12 this year, the Second Sunday of Easter is when the Church proclaims “the One who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ.”
This Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis will officially proclaim a “Jubilee Year of Mercy,” an extraordinary holy year to begin on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.
Husband Ashiq and their daughter on European campaign, visiting Rome, Madrid, Paris and Berlin. Asia asks the Pope for a special blessing.
“When you kiss the hand of the Pope, do it also for me. That will be my kiss. And ask him to bless us.” With these words, Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian mother condemned to death for blasphemy in Pakistan, approved the journey that her husband Ashiq Masih and one of their daughters will embark upon next week towards Europe, in the hopes of raising support to overturn the sentence.
Francis delivering the Bull of Indiction: “The Church, in this time of great historical change, is called to offer more evident signs of God’s presence and closeness”.
“This is not the time to be distracted; on the contrary, we need to be vigilant and to reawaken
