Will Obama use the word 'genocide,' like the Pope?

In his Sunday Mass at the Vatican on April 12, Pope Francis referred to the mass killings during the deportation of Ottoman Armenians in World War I as ?widely considered ?the first genocide of the 20th century.??

The media reported it as if he was denouncing the major human tragedy himself as genocide, and as if it was the first time a pope was saying this. That was perhaps because the Mass came just 12 days before the centennial commemoration of the ?Talaat Pasha telegram? of April 24, which gave instructions for the deportations, in Yerevan. The commemoration will be hosted by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, who was present at the Vatican on Sunday.

Pope Francis was actually citing a statement signed by John Paul II and the Armenian patriarch Kerakin in 2000.

A well-known Catholic site, Cruxnow.com, had signaled that Francis would not make a direct denunciation himself, despite possible disappointment for Armenians, in order to not further antagonize inter-religious tensions and the delicate political situation in the Middle East.

?Francis finds himself caught between two imperatives,? Inés San Martín, the Crux Vatican correspondent, had written on April 9 following a meeting between the Pope and Armenian bishops. ?Recognizing the calamity that befell Turkey?s Armenian minority a century ago as a harbinger of today?s anti-Christian persecution in the Middle East, without alienating a nation recognized as one of the best hopes for moderation across the Islamic world.? 

Pope Francis had visited Turkish President Tayyip Erdo?an on Nov. 28, 2014 in Ankara, while he was in Turkey to meet Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew on Nov. 30, 2014 in Istanbul - a meeting that brought the Catholic and Orthodox churches closer...