Pope says 'never again' to tragedies like Armenian genocide

A solemn Pope Francis, "with torment in my heart," paid tribute on Saturday to the 1.5 million Armenians slaughtered in 1915, an occasion which he has marked a genocide, taking a chance with Turkey's rage.

Francis, on the second day of his trek to Armenia, made an early morning stop at the Tzitzernakaberd, the "Genocide Memorial and Museum," a towering rock needle flanked by an interminable fire on a slope sitting above the Armenian capital.

There, noticeably moved, he joined in a petition administration alongside President Serzh Sarksyan and pioneers of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

"Here I implore, with agony in my heart, so that never again will there be tragedies like this, so humankind does not overlook and knows how to overcome underhanded with great," he wrote in the visitor book in Italian.

On Friday night in a discourse to the president, the legislature and representatives, Francis withdrew from his readied content to utilize "genocide," a depiction that maddened Turkey when he said it a year back.

Pope Francis signs a visitors' book during a commemoration ceremony for Armenians killed by Ottoman Turks, at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex in Yerevan, Armenia, June 25, 2016.

As of Saturday morning there was no official response from Turkey, which a year ago reviewed its envoy to the Vatican after the pope utilized the "genocide" term. The emissary was kept away for 10 months.

Turkey acknowledges numerous Christian Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were slaughtered in conflicts with Ottoman strengths amid World War One, yet challenges the figures and denies the killings were deliberately arranged and constitute a genocide. It likewise says numerous Muslim Turks died around then.

"There is no reason not to utilize this word for this situation," Vatican representative Father Federico Lombardi told journalists on Friday night. "Actually clear and we never denied what actually."

At the Saturday morning service, Francis visited with relatives of Armenian vagrants who were protected at the ecclesiastical summer living arrangement south of Rome toward the begin of the twentieth century.

"May God concede the cherished Armenian individuals and the whole world peace and encouragement. May God secure the memory of the Armenian individuals. Memory ought not be weakened or overlooked. Memory is a wellspring of peace and the future," he wrote in the visitor book.

After the commemoration benefit the pope traveled to say a Mass in the common city of Gyumri, close to the fringe with Turkey and inside sight of Mount Ararat, where the Bible says Noah's Ark arrived after the Great Flood.

(Composing by Philip Pullella; Editing by Mark Potter)

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