Story highlights Former Turkish ambassador to the Vatican calls use of the word "genocide" a "one-sided evaluation"

Pope discusses massacres of Armenians a century after they took place

Turkey denies the mass killings constituted a genocide

(CNN) Pope Francis risked Turkish anger on Sunday by using the word "genocide" to refer to the mass killings of Armenians a century ago under the Ottoman Empire.

"In the past century, our human family has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies," the Pope said at a Mass at St. Peter's Basilica to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian massacres.

"The first, which is widely considered 'the first genocide of the 20th century,' struck your own Armenian people," he said, referencing a 2001 declaration by Pope John Paul II and the head of the Armenian church.

His use of the term genocide -- even though he was quoting from the declaration -- upset Turkey.

Diplomatic uproar

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