“Lord, forgive so much cruelty” written in his native tongue, Spanish. “Alone, enter, pray. And may the Lord give me the grace to cry”. Each station represented an issue the modern world is facing right now – e.g. poverty, hunger or the situation of refugees.
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“Humanity today needs men and women, and especially young people like yourselves, who do not wish to live their lives “halfway”, young people ready to spend their lives freely in service to those of their brothers and sisters who are poorest and most vulnerable”. “Where is God, when innocent persons die as a result of violence, terrorism and war?”
These are questions, he added, that “humanly speaking, have no answer”. On the topic of permission, the Pope said to “always ask your spouse, the wife to the husband and the husband to the wife, ‘what do you think, what do you think if we do this?'” rather than just “running over” the other without getting their opinion.
“By not making a statement, Pope Francis is setting this place apart and this event apart”. The cruelty of Auschwitz and Birkenau has not ended.
When he arrived at the end of the railway track where the trains stopped, Francis got out of the electric golf cart, and, after being greeted by the Polish prime minister, he went to the memorial plaques in front of the Monument to the Victims of the Nations. “It’s not easy to make a life commitment, it takes courage, and I congratulate them because they have courage”, he said, noting that the three words “permission, thanks, and forgiveness” come in handy every day of married life.
Jozef and Wiktoria Ulma and their 7 children were butchered.
On Friday the Pope visited the Nazi death camps in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland as part of his first visit to eastern Europe. The survivors were typically teenagers or young adults who worked with their parents to help Jews.
Furst, who now lives in Israel, gave the pope a photograph showing him and other inmates imprisoned in the Auschwitz barracks.
Then, during an outdoor Mass before tens of thousands, Francis lavished praise on a legacy of steadfast Polish Catholic faith as he urged Poles to hold fast to their faith.
He prayed silently for more than 15 minutes before meeting with several survivors of the camp, greeting them one by one, shaking their hands and kissing them on the cheeks. This August marks the 75th anniversary of his death. In place of the usual destination indicator were the words “Tram del Papa” – Italian for “the pope’s tram”.
Earlier, some of the inmates told The Associated Press they were excited about meeting the pope, a great authority to them.
“This is a huge thing for me”, said 100-year-old Alojzy Fros.
Schudrich said he was grateful that the pope met with the Righteous and also valued his silent homage to the victims of the camp, most of whom were Jewish.
Fellow “Righteous Among the Nations” Ryszard Zielinski told AFP the encounter with Francis had meant a lot.
The pope also called Karol Wojtyla was born in southern Poland in 1920, when Jewish communities were flourishing there.
John Paul’s visit to the site in 1979 made history because it was the first ever by a pontiff, part of the Vatican’s historical efforts at reconciliation with Jews.
One woman kissed his hand. “And when there are tears, the child looks for their mother”, he said, and led the youth in praying a Hail Mary, each in their own language, before giving his blessing and wishing them a good night.
One of them handed Francis a lit candle which he then carried to the “wall of death” where several thousand were shot to death.
Fellow survivor Alojzy Fros, who is 99, still remembered his arrival at the camp.
A report by the Vatican officials said it was in tribute to 1.5 million people, majority Jews, gassed there by Nazi occupiers during World War II. But Francis is the first pope to visit who has no personal connection to the site. Mr Kolbe was made a saint in 1982 by then-Pope John Paul II, a Pole.
German occupation forces set up the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War Two in Oswiecim, a town around 70 km (43 miles) from Poland’s second city, Krakow, in the country’s south.
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Pope Francis on Friday, July 29, walked alone through the notorious wrought-iron “Arbeit Macht Frei” gates at Auschwitz-Birkenau beginning a historic visit woto the former Nazi death camp.
