At his General Audience, Pope Francis marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day, observed on the anniversary of the liberation of Nazi concentration and extermination camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
âToday we commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and all those persecuted and deported by the Nazi regime,â Pope Francis said at his weekly General Audience.
His remarks came on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which occurs each year on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau â the largest Nazi concentration and death camp â by the Soviet Red Army during the Second World War.
âRemembering is an expression of humanity. Remembering is a sign of civilization,â the Pope said. âRemembering is a condition for a better future of peace and fraternity.â
Pope Francis continued, saying, âRemembering also means being careful because these things could happen again, beginning with ideological proposals intended to save a people and ending by destroying a people and humanity.â He warned that we must be attentive âto how this path of death, of extermination, and brutality begin.â
The Popeâs words echoed his message at last yearâs observance of the Day of Remembrance, when he called on everyone to mark the day by taking a moment of prayer and recollection, âsaying in our hearts, âNever again!ââ Pope Francis appealed for remembrance of the Holocaust, saying, âIn the face of this immense tragedy, indifference is not admissible and memory is due.â
Pope Francis himself visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, on the site of the infamous Nazi death camp, during his visit to Poland in 2016. He became the third Pope to visit the site, following Pope St John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
Pope Francisâ visit was marked by profound silence, beginning with his passage through the gates to the camp, marked by the notorious slogan, âArbeit macht freiâ â âWork sets you free.â He prayed in silence in the cell of St Maximilian Kolbe, who gave his life for a fellow prisoner in the camp; and later met with Auschwitz survivors.
Source: vaticannews.va
