In the most carefully watched speech of the trip, Francis on Friday ad-libbed the politically charged word "genocide" to his prepared text, listing the Armenian genocide alongside the Holocaust and Stalinism as the three great mass slaughters of the 20th century. Pope Francis demanded Saturday that the world never forget the victims of the Ottoman-era slaughter of Armenians at the country's imposing genocide memorial, hours after drawing a standing ovation from his hosts when he declared the slaughter a planned "genocide" aimed at annihilating an entire people. His 2015 declaration that the massacres were considered a "genocide" sealed their affection for him. There was no immediate reaction from Turkey, which withdrew its ambassador last year and accused Francis of spreading lies when he first termed the slaughter a genocide. Federico Lombardi, said Francis' declaration of a genocide must be taken in the context of recognizing a past horror to then move on in friendship and reconciliation.

Source: Fox News June 25, 2016 05:51 UTC