ROME (ZENIT) -- One hundred years is not enough to forget, especially if it is about a massacre such as the "Great Evil" that profoundly affected the Armenian people at the beginning of the 20th century, exterminating 1.5 million men, women, and children.

Vatican expert, Franca Giansoldati knows it well. A journalist for the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, recently authored a new book entitled "La Marcia Senza Ritorno: Il Genocidio Armeno (The March without Return: The Armenian Genocide).

Giansoldati, who spent years of study and research for the new book, shed tears as she went deeper into the details of the cruel event which still remain a gap in history. In an interview with ZENIT, Giansoldati speaks on her work, which was also 'blessed' by the pope, and explains the reason for the troubled reactions of Turkey to the pontiff's words last Sunday regarding what was, to all intents and purposes, ''the first genocide of the 20th century."

Q: The pope said the word "genocide." This marks a turn in the history of the papacy and of the Vatican, notwithstanding that St. John Paul II already used this word in the "Joint Declaration" with Karekin II of 2001. In your opinion, how is Francis' gesture interpreted, as a danger or a courageous move?

Giansoldati: The pope tore the veil and from now on impedes anyone from being hypocritical, inside the Church and outside, the laity as well as religious, believers as well as non-believers. The moral weight the pope has is enormous and the fact that he used this word, after one hundred years, was not taken for granted but a willed act. It is right that the Church of Rome recognizes a page of history that was always put to one side, treated by many as a "diplomatic tactic," forgetting that 1.5 million people died there, many of whom were Christians. Therefore, last Sunday's celebration was a moving moment, as if the Church had accompanied these dead on their last trip, buried them and recognized them. And the word "genocide" could only be the umbrella to frame what happened.

Q: Why are some bothered by the word "genocide"?

Giansoldati: "Genocide" is a term coined in 1948 after World War II; however at the time of the extermination of the Armenians it was unknown. Yet, words are found that recall the meaning in documents of the time, not only in documents kept in the archives of the Vatican, but also in the archives of the German Foreign Ministry, of the American and in our Italian Ministry. They are documents that Gorrini wrote, Honorary Consul at Trabzon until June of 1915, who already then, as an eyewitness, wrote what he saw happening under the windows of the consulate. And those that were not of the "pogrom," on the spot violence: he saw a systematic plan, studied at table, meticulously perfected to take out of the Ottoman Empire a minority considered somewhat as a cancer. Be it because in that period there was the poisoned fruit of nationalism, be it because the Armenians constituted a non-homogeneous minority. They were Christians. And this is an element that then became not secondary for the evolution of the affair.

Q: In what sense?

Giansoldati: The genocide of the Armenians stems from political and economic bases, because the Ottoman Empire was absolutely indebted and therefore wanted to confiscate the properties of the Armenians who were a particularly well-off minority. However, the fundamental element to understand the religious connotation of this extermination is the fact that a minimal minority of Armenians in order to save themselves decided to embrace Islam and renounce Christianity. They decided, namely, to 'homogenize themselves" to Muslim Turkey. And they were saved. All! Therefore, in the end, the religious fact in this plan to cancel these people from the face of the earth -- as American ambassador Morgenthau wrote in his reports -- if at the beginning was not determinant, it soon became the gasoline that fueled hatred, the hunt of those who are different.

Q: Turkey, however, is obstinate in an attitude of denial, which it demonstrated by its recent reaction: from the summoning of the Apostolic Nuncio to the last aggressive statements yesterday by President Erdogan against the pontiff. Why?

Giansoldati: First of all because of the question of economic compensation, which is not in fact secondary, because it could create real economic problems for Turkey.

Q: Is there a risk to diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Turkey?

Giansoldati: Absolutely not. There are good relations, we saw it also during the pope's trip in November. At this moment, certainly, there are "stressful" relations. We must hope that they not bring harm to the Catholic community that is there: 20,000 persons, a small minority, but that, however, lives in difficult conditions, especially in the peripheral areas. In any case, there is another aspect to consider.

Q: Which is?

Giansoldati: That there are still two deaths that weigh on the conscience of Turkish politics, for which today we still don't have answers: the death of Bishop Padovese and of Don Andrea Santoro, both killed to the cry of "Allah Akbar." It could also have been "the madman on duty" who killed them, but it is necessary to reflect and to give answers -- perhaps reflecting on the climate of hatred that evidently smoulders under the ashes. Up to now, Turkey has remained silent.