Vatican slams Crusade' remarks

Yerevan: The Vatican on Sunday hit back at claims from Turkey that Pope Francis showed a “mentality of the Crusades” after he denounced the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces as “genocide”. Turkish Deputy PM Nurettin Canlikli said the pope’s declaration bore traces of “the mentality of the Crusades.”

The Vatican rejected the allegations and said the pontiff was trying to build “bridges not walls” and had nothing against Turkey. “If you listen to the pope, there is nothing that evokes a spirit of the Crusades,” spokesman Federico Lombardi said.