by Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City : [Pope] Benedict XVI has “reopened” the Armenian
question, in defence of the freedom of religious minorities. Vatican
diplomats are reassuring the Turkish authorities, and are frantically
working to avert the risks of a new diplomatic incident with a
country which has a Muslim majority. “The trip to Turkey is a great
opportunity to cool down tensions by means of talks,” officials in
the Vatican have said, damping down tensions, while signs of concern
are coming in from Turkey ‘s episcopate, in light of the serious
misunderstandings and the row which followed the Pope’s references to
Islam in Bavaria .
On the afternoon of 30 November, in Istanbul , the Pope is to meet
with the Armenian apostolic patriarch, Mesrop II. “It is an important
step towards the unity of Christians, and it must in no way be
interpreted as a hostile action with regard to the government in
Ankara ,” explained the archbishop at the papal court, Francesco
Gioia, who is in the front line in inter-religious dialogue. However,
the wounds caused by the ethnic and religious genocide of the
Armenian people, for which Turkey has never wanted to acknowledge
responsibility, are still open. The Secretary of State’s office is
trying to avert and attenuate the possible negative repercussions.
Sources at the third loggia of the Apostolic Palace [as received]
have highlighted the fact that the European Parliament has just
decided to eliminate acknowledgment of the Armenian genocide from the
list of preconditions for Ankara ‘s membership of the European Union
(unlike the terms of the first version of the text), whilst still
underlining the fact that it is “indispensable” for Turkey to deal
with the question. “The invitation to the Pontiff is a brave decision
by the Turkish Government, and the constructive intention in it
should be appreciated – Gioia specified – As well as the Armenian
apostolic patriarch, Benedict XVI will also meet in Turkey with the
spiritual leaders of the other minorities: the Syrian Orthodox
archbishop, the representatives of the evangelical churches, and the
Greek Orthodox patriarch.”
A decision which is “a determined one, which will lift the veil on a
very severe situation,” to the extent of making Joseph Ratzinger
[Pope Benedict XVI] the spokesman of the claims of all Christians, as
the theologist Don Gianni Baget Bozzo underlined. “Although he will
not make an explicit mention of the extermination of a million and a
half Armenians, which was carried out in 1915 by the Young Turks –
argues Baget Bozzo – by meeting in Istanbul with Patriarch Mesrop II,
the Holy Father is turning the spotlight on the lack of respect for
religious freedom, and on the denial of the rights of worshippers. ”
All the more so given that Benedict XVI has always spoken very clear
words of condemnation of genocide. “Embracing the patriarch will be a
testimony of truth with regard to the sacrifice and the suffering of
the Armenian community – said Luigi Amicone, a member of CL
[right-wing religious movement Communion and Liberation], who is the
editor-in-chief of the theo-con weekly Tempi.
As already happened in the case of the speech in Regensburg on
Mohammed, the Pontiff is showing that he is not scared of
exploitation for political purposes, which will also be targeted at
this historic gesture on his part.” Card Pio Laghi observed that the
Pope’s thoughts will be directed at the suffering which the Armenian
people has endured in the name of the Christian faith, “in the years
of the terrible persecution which remains in history under the sadly
meaningful name of ‘Metz Yeghern,’ the great evil.”
So it will be a meeting which, at the same time, is “a sign of
gratitude and a concrete intervention” for the Armenians and the
other Christians who, in the land of Islam , “continue to bear
witness, still today, to their faithfulness to the Gospel.” Genocide,
sources at the papal court remarked, represents one of the darkest
and most forgotten chapters of the last century. Joseph Ratzinger
intends to re-read it not so as to condemn Turkey , but in order to
pay tribute to those who, under the Ottoman Empire , sacrificed their
lives to their faith in Christ, and so as to lay claim to the rights
which are denied to today’s believers. He is inspired by the memory
of the denunciation by [Pope] Leo XIII of the general silence over
the Armenian tragedy, and Benedict XV’s cry of pain over the “very
wretched people of Armenia .” This closeness, and this solidarity will
be the guidelines at the meeting in Istanbul . “But his gesture also
has an ‘internal’ significance, inasmuch as it serves to call for
greater efforts to reconstitute unity between Christians,” Laghi made
clear.
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