VATICAN CITY — The Vatican confirmed on Saturday that Pope Francis will visit Armenia this June. Radio Vatican reported that the visit has been scheduled for June 24-26. It said the pontiff will travel to the South Caucasus state at the invitation of Armenia’s government, Apostolic Church and Catholic Armenian minority.

Pope Francis had expressed his desire to visit Armenia last November, during an airborne press conference coming back from his Africa tour. The Armenia foray is bound to cause diplomatic tensions with Turkey, if recent experience is to be taken into consideration.

On April 12, 2015 he celebrated a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica to mark the 100th anniversary of the Armenians Genocide calling it as “the first genocide of the 20th century.”

Turkey reacted angrily to his reference to the genocide accusing the pontiff of distorting history and recalling its ambassador to the Vatican in protest.

One of Pope Francis’s predecessors, John Paul II became in 2001 the first Catholic Church leader to set foot on Armenian soil. During that historic trip, he issued a joint declaration with Catholicos Karegkin I describing the 1915 Armenian massacres in Ottoman Turkey as genocide.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Sign Up for Our Newsletters

Get notified of the latest updates from MassisPost.

You May Also Like

AMAA to Celebrate 100th Anniversary of Its Founding on October 19 in Boston

BY FLORENCE AVAKIAN PARAMUS, NJ – “We’ve got to do something,” they…

Azerbaijan Expels Amnesty International Members

LONDON — Amnesty International says two of its delegates have been detained…

Senator Portantino Garners Additional $1.8M in State Funds for Armenian American Museum in Glendale

SACRAMENTO – Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – La Cañada Flintridge) announced this…

Armenia-2050: PM Pashinyan Presents Transformation Strategy, Goals for the Next Three Decades

YEREVAN– The changes in the coming thirty years should be based on…