Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Paris (Agenzia Fides) - On April 24th, France has declared a "National Day of Commemoration" to remember the 1915 Armenian genocide, which will be celebrated for the first time. This was announced by French President Emmanuel Macron, underlining that France "is, first and foremost, the country that knows how to look history in the face, which was among the first to denounce the killing of the Armenian people, which in 1915 named genocide for what it was, which in 2001 after a long struggle recognised it in law". Mr Macron's remarks at the dinner, organised by the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organisations of France, honoured a campaign promise from his election in 2017. To date, 29 nations have officially recognized as Genocide (definition always rejected and contested by the Turkish authorities) the systematic massacres and forced deportations suffered by the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire since 1915. In addition to France, the list also includes Brazil, Canada, Italy and Russia, together with many individual States of the USA. (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 6/2/2019)
ASIA/TURKEY - For the first time in the history of the Turkish Republic, an Armenian becomes Governor of a district
ASIA/LEBANON - "We are not celebrating two dead, but two risen in Christ". Lebanese Christians celebrate the beatification of Capuchins Leonardo Melki and Thomas Saleh, missionaries and martyrs
BRICS+ Is A Polyhedron, Pope Francis’s Favorite Image
ASIA/JAPAN - Nuclear Disarmament: A Natural Buddhist-Catholic Alliance, Explains Japanese Leader
ASIA/CHINA - The historical archive of Propaganda Fide is being presented to professors and students in the People’s Republic of China for the first time
ASIA/KOREA - The broken dream of reuniting families divided by the "frozen river"