Three important messages by Pope Francis (video)
Vardan Voskanyan, an expert in Iranian studies, singles out three important things in the latest visit of Pope Francis. Talking to reporters on June 29, the expert said the Pontiff’s visit to Armenia raised the country to a new level. “The first important thing was that the Pope used the words “Mets Eghern” and “Genocide” in his speech to describe the mass killings of 1915. He used them as synonyms. In fact, he announced the start of a process which will make it impossible to avoid giving a legal assessment of the genocide through word games. Secondly, the visit puts the Armenian Apostolic Church on the same level with a powerful clerical body which is the Roman Catholic Church. Finally, Armenia is seen not only as a political and state unit and an ordinary country in the South Caucasus, but also a place of pilgrimage as it was called by the Pope,” Mr Voskanyan said. The specialist says the Pope’s visit to Armenia was also widely covered by the Iranian media which especially highlighted the use of the word "genocide" and Serzh Sargsyan's statement. “Armenia somehow bettered its position in the eyes of Iran which means Armenia can become a major platform in an attempt to weaken the knee-jerk demonizing of Iran,” he said in conclusion.
