Pope Francis has shown brave witness at the Mass he celebrated in the Armenian Rite when he called the systematic slaughter of Armenian Christians “the first genocide of the twentieth century” and connected the Armenian genocide to the persecutions and murders of Christians today throughout the Middle East.
The Holy Father mentioned that the global indifference to the persecution and slaughter of Middle Eastern Christians needs to end and that the world can never forget the Armenian genocide. “Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it!” he said.
Pope Francis’ comments were made in the presence of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and he went on to say: “It seems that humanity is incapable of putting a halt to the shedding of innocent blood” and “It seems that the human family has refused to learn from its mistakes caused by the law of terror, so that today, too, there are those who attempt to eliminate others with the help of a few, and with the complicit silence of others who simply stand by.”
Turkey responded to the pope’s homily by recalling Ankara’s ambassador to the Holy See, and ignited a war of words from the Turkish government. But the pope is telling the truth.
These Christians were murdered 100 years ago by the Turks in an attempt to rid Armenia of all Christians. ISIS is targeting Christians and other religious minorities in the same way. The pope is telling the world to wake up. Would that more religious leaders, especially throughout the Muslim world, speak up to condemn the Islamic State. Thank you, Holy Father, for your witness and your fearlessness.
I am writing to protest your cartoon about “Private Pinocchio” and the inclusion of Bill O’Reilly: intimating he did not tell the truth about his war zone reporting from years ago. If you watch “The Factor”, you would know he discredited these accusations made on the web in great detail. He even showed his report from years ago on the show! Mr. O’Reilly is one of the few in the national media who proudly talks about his Catholic faith & Catholic education. He is a great advocate for the faith and is fighting the secular progressives & their influence on the culture. The Bishop should go on his show & show leadership with all the assaults on faith we now see. Please do not ridicule such an ally, especially as this cartoon bears false witness.