By Rev. Fr. Ghazar (Lazarus) Bedrossian
Special to the Mirror-Spectator
I remember it as if it were yesterday. On April 9, 2015, three days before the Holy Mass commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, we were in Rome, in the quiet solemnity of the patriarchal office of His Beatitude Nerses Bedros XIX, Catholicos Patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church. We were three priests, humbled and awed, standing in a moment that was clearly part of history’s mysterious unfolding.
It was in those sacred halls that the official draft of the Holy Father Pope Francis’ speech arrived. It had been sent to the Patriarch so that we could prepare its Armenian translation. As we read through the lines, my eyes paused, wide with recognition — he had used the word: Genocide. I turned to His Beatitude and said, “The Holy Father is using the term Genocide.” He looked back at me with surprise in his eyes, perhaps not yet fully grasping the magnitude of what had been written. We were all, in that moment, standing at the edge of something profound.
Then came Sunday, April 12 — the Sunday of Divine Mercy.
I had the privilege of assisting our Patriarch during the Holy Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. As we took our places and were seated, the basilica was filled with reverent silence. Before the liturgy began, Pope Francis stood and addressed the world. And then, in his clear and unwavering voice, he said the unforgettable words: “It was the first Genocide of the 20th century.”
