Recalling the words of St. Thomas when he came to believe in Jesus’ resurrection – “My Lord and my God” – Francis encouraged the daily recitation of this acclamation, saying to the Lord: “You are my one treasure, the path I must follow, the core of my life, my all”.
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“And the victims of the culture of waste are those who weakest and most frail, and this is indeed cruel”, he said.
Altogether, it was a deeply contemplative and private visit of almost two hours that Francis passed in total silence, except for a few words he exchanged with the survivors and rescuers.
Francis’ visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where Adolf Hitler’s forces put to death more than 1 million people, a lot of them Jews, came on the third day of a five-day trip to Poland that included meetings with young Catholic pilgrims gathering in Krakow for World Youth Day, a global celebration of faith.
Going into the church, the pope paused to see a young girl whose artificial legs were paid for by Francis, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said.
But while Francis made no speeches during his time at the notorious camp, where more than 1 million people, mostly Jews, died during World War II, he left a simple written plea in the guest book: “Lord, have mercy on your people! Lord, forgive so much cruelty”.
Francis said: “This call is also addressed to us. Is it possible that we humans created in God’s image are capable of doing these things?” the pontiff said of the atrocities 70 years ago.
“Cruelty did not end at Auschwitz and Birkenau”, he said. Taking up the youths’ emphasis on how people continue to suffer today, he started by asking several times how God could possibly be found in this suffering.
“Today in many parts of the world where there is war the same thing is happening”. He met 32 camp survivors, majority Catholics.
Speaking from the window of the archbishop’s residence in Krakow, where he is staying during his visit to Poland, the Pope told young couples that they should “never finish the day without making peace”. Pope Benedict XVI, a German who was forced to join the Hitler Youth as a child, made the somber trip in 2006.
“The visit by the first Latin American Pope to Auschwitz is important because it is a recognition that this isn’t just a European tragedy, not just an ugly chapter in western history”, said David Gibson, a biographer of Pope Benedict and national reporter for the Religion News Service.
Then, recognizing the Syrians who took part in the enactment of the first station, the pope said: “Tonight Jesus, and we with him, embrace with particular love our brothers and sisters from Syria who have fled from the war”.
The pope spent a few minutes quietly greeting about a dozen Auschwitz survivors, kissing each of them on both cheeks.
At the dark underground prison cell that once housed St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish friar who sacrificed his life to save that of a fellow prisoner who had a family, Francis prayed again.
Each visit was closely watched by Catholics, Jews and others, especially because the wartime pontiff, Pius XII, has been criticized by those who feel he didn’t act assertively enough to use his moral influence in much of the world to speak out against discrimination and then the systematic murder of Jews by Nazis, while defenders contend he used quiet Vatican diplomacy to save many Jews.
At the Birkenau ceremony, Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, recited, in Hebrew Psalm 130, beginning with the words: “From the depths I have cried out to you, Oh Lord”.
Francis devoted Friday to the theme of suffering.
In a statement Friday, Lauder praised the pontiff, who has forged ever-closer ties between the Catholic Church and Jews since his election in 2013.
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He added that disciples are not afraid of asking questions, but rather “have the courage to face their misgivings and bring them to the Lord, to their formators and superiors, without calculations or reticence”.
