Pope Francis at the Tzitzernakaberd Memorial
(Vatican Radio) On Saturday
25th of June, the second day of his Apostolic journey to Armenia, Pope Francis
participated in a prayer service at the Tzitzernakaberd Memorial to the
Metz Yeghern, or 'Great Evil', as Armenians refer to the 1915 massacres. A dark
chapter for this nation which Pope Francis has referred to as 'genocide'.
The monument built in the
1960’s during the Soviet era has become since independence a symbol of national
renaissance. While here Pope Francis prayed at length. In a special way
during an ecumenical prayer service, held in memory of those fallen in the
massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire in 1915, which
consisted in the Our Father, the reading of two Biblical passages and an
intercessory prayer.
It was a moving
ceremony during which Pope Francis also prayed in silence and laid a
wreath of flowers by the 44 metre column which symbolizes the renaissance of
Armenia as well as two roses with the Vatican colours, so one yellow one white
by the eternal flame of the Memorial complex.
The Memorial stood out
against the backdrop of snow capped Mount Ararat with its biblical connotations
and the ceremony was accompanied by mournful music. It ended with
Pope Francis planting a fir tree in a gesture symbolic of hope and peace.
But there was one last
significant event during this ceremony, the encounter of Pope Francis with ten
descendants of the Armenain refugees who found a safe haven in the Vatican
apostolic palace of Castelgandolfo in the 1920’s under the pontificate of
Pius XI.
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