Francis has visited the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau; as an Argentine he is the first pope to visit who did not himself live himself through the brutality of World War II on Europe\’s soil; Pope meets with survivors.
Associated Press & Reuters|Published: 29.07.16 , 10:50
OSWIECIM, Poland – Pope Francis paid a somber visit to the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau Friday, becoming the third consecutive pontiff to make the pilgrimage to the place where Adolf Hitler\’s forces killed more than 1 million people, most of them Jews.
Francis entered the camp on foot, walking slowly beneath the notorious gate at Auschwitz bearing the cynical words "Arbeit Macht Frei."
After Auschwitz he moved to nearby Birkenau, where people were murdered in factory-like fashion in gas chambers.
Altogether it was a deeply contemplative and private visit of nearly two hours that Francis passed in total silence, except for a few words he exchanged with camp survivors and Holocaust rescuers.
Vatican and Polish church officials had explained that Francis wanted to express his sorrow in silence at the site, mourning the victims in quiet prayer and meditation.
However, he did express his feelings, writing in the Auschwitz memorial\’s guest book in Spanish: "Lord, have pity on your people. Lord, forgive so much cruelty."
At the dark underground prison cell that once housed St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Catholic friar who sacrificed his own life during the war to save the life of another man, Francis prayed again. Kolbe was later killed by lethal injection but the man he saved survived the war. He was made a saint in 1982 by then-Pope John Paul II, a Pole.
A few shafts from a tiny window were the only light cast on the white figure of the pope, who knelt for many minutes before he crossed himself and rose to his feet.