The Vatican has hit back at Turkey's depiction of Pope Francis as having a "crusader mentality" after he used the word genocide to describe the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians a century ago.  

Pope Francis visited a monastery in Armenia, near the border with Turkey.

The visit came at the end of a three-day visit to Armenia that triggered a new diplomatic spat between the Vatican and Ankara. 

The Vatican said that the pope was simply trying to build bridges, and in a speech outside the Armenian capital, Yerevan, Francis called for peace and unity. 

"May an ardent desire for unity rise up in our hearts, a unity that must not be the submission of one to the other, or assimilation, but rather the acceptance of all the gifts that God has given to each. Let us pay heed to the younger generation, who seek a future free of past divisions," the Pope said. 

Turkey says the killings in 1915 weren't systematically orchestrated so they don't constitute genocide.

The dispute is a large reason for tense relations between Turkey and Armenia.

At his last stop before flying back to Rome, the Pope and the head of the Armenian Church released doves as a symbol of their hopes that the two countries can end their hostility and find peace.