Pope Francis participated in a prayer service at the Tzitzernakaberd Memorial to the Metz Yeghern, or 'Great Evil', in Armenia on Saturday morning, offering an intercessory prayer and extensive silent prayer for the dead. The ecumenical prayer service, held in memory of those fallen in the massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire in 1915, consisted in the Our Father prayer, the reading of two Biblical passages (Heb 10,32-36 & John 14,1-13), and an intercessory prayer by Pope Francis. Also present at the prayer service was a small group of descendants of the Armenian refugees whom Pope Pius XI hosted at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo after the Metz Yeghern. At the conclusion of the service, the Holy Father stopped briefly to bless and water a tree in remembrance of his visit to the Tzitzernakaberd Memorial. Below, please find a Vatican Radio English translation of the Pope's intercessory prayer:

Christ, who crowns your saints,

who fulfills the will of your faithful

and looks with love and tenderness upon your creatures,

hear us from your holy heavens,

by the intercession of the holy Generatrix of God

and by the prayer of your saints

and those whom we remember today.

Hear us, O Lord, and have mercy.

Forgive us, expiate and remit our sins.

Make us worthy to glorify you with thankful hearts,

together with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

now and forever. Amen.

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CNS photo/Paul Haring