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Different events dedicated to the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide were held in Rome and Naples with the participation of the Armenian Embassy in the Holy See.

The representatives of the Armenian Apostolic and Catholic churches talong with the clergymen of Sant'Egidio community for the first time held a ritual ceremony at Basilica of St. Bartholomew on the Island of Tiber Island on April 23.

Public and political figures, as well as members of the Italian Armenian community attended the event.

After the Lord's Prayer before the relics of St Gregory the Illuminator, Archbishop of Naples, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe addressed the faithful gathered in the basillica. In his speech, the Cardinal expressed special gratitude to the Armenian Ambassador to the Holy See Mikayel Minasyan for the initiative of returning to the original chapel the relics of St. Gregory the Armenian as early as two years ago. Thereafter an anthem dedicated to the saint was performed.

After the ceremony, the procession headed for the Armenian Genocide Memorial, where Cardinal Sepe prayed for the Armenian Genocide victims. The prayers offered by John Paul II and Francis I in the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex Tsitsernakaberd were read out. The members of the Armenian community of Naples also attended the event.

On the eve of the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Armenian Ambassador to the Holy See, Mikayel Minasyan, gave an interview to the Italian authoritative newspaper La Stampa, where he recalled the trip of Pope Francis to Armenia and the significance of this issue for the future.

In particular, the Armenian Ambassador noted that the past can help to look into the future, and for this purpose the Armenians have been struggling tirelessly for already more than a century.  According to the ambassador, if the tragedy, which occurred to the Armenian people one hundred years ago, was correctly assessed then, the situation might have been different in the Middle East now. Referring to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey, Ambassador Minasyan noted that the Armenians expect from Turkey the step and realization of the fact that in the past the political and cultural variety used to be their wealth. ''Meanwhile, this common memory is constantly denied and forgotten,'' he noted. 

 

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