Montevideo, Uruguay (Wednesday, 04-29-2015, Gaudium Press) The Archbishop of Montevideo, Cardinal Daniel Sturla, celebrated Mass on Sunday, April 26, to commemorate the centennial of the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Eparch for Latin America, His Excellency Mgr. Vartan Boghossian was one of the concelebrants. “The truth cannot be told half way,” Cardinal Sturla said.
The Uruguayan government was among first ones to speak about the Armenian genocide, none had done before. 50 years later, Uruguay continues to speak with clarity of the terrible massacre that killed more than a million or a million and a half people.
The Mass, celebrated on the centenary of the Armenian genocide, at the Cathedral of Montevideo, was very well attended and it was presided by the Archbishop, Primate of Uruguay, Cardinal Daniel Sturla. The cardinal wear a cap that belonged to Cardinal Agagianian, who was doing his studies in Rome at the time and thus managed to escape persecution.
In his homily, given on Good Shepherd Sunday, Cardinal Sturla mentioned that among the one million Armenians killed, a hundred years ago, the shepherds of the people were among them, and he remembered the martyrdom of Blessed Ignatius Maloyan, an Armenian Catholic bishop who was killed for refusing to reject his faith, and who managed to distribute the Eucharist among his people prior to his execution.
“The Good Shepherd, after giving the true life to his sheep, was killed with a bullet in his head,” Cardinal Sturla said. He also recalled that for the Armenian people “Country and religion, faith and nation are inextricably linked “.
In this regard, Cardinal Sturla regretted that the Christian identity of the Armenian people is sometimes silenced.
“It is regrettable that the Christian identity of this people seems not to be mentioned and considered as if it were a minor detail,” he said.
And he asked not to forget the claim of Pope Francis, who had the courage to cal the Armenian genocide by its name. “We should not forget to mention the one who, in this special year, had the courage to mention this fact when others, on the other hand, maybe for reasons of strategy, failed to do it” he continued.
The archbishop also asked not to forget the Christians that are being killed in so many parts of the world. “Let us be vigilant because the truth cannot be said halfway. Today also Christians are being killed in places like Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq and Libya “.
“The death of Christians being massacred because of their faith cannot leave us indifferent today, because this could make us become accomplice of a tragedy of great proportions,” the cardinal said.
Among those in attendance was the former President of Uruguay Luis Lacalle, members of President Vazquez family and representatives of other religions.
From an article written by Esteban Pittaro from Aleteia