Pope Francis speaks with nuns during a visit at the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland, 30 July 2016.
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Francis had said that rather than making a speech, he would stand in silence to reflect on the horrors committed and let his tears flow.
Prayers will be said just a stone’s throw from the ruins of one of the crematoriums which was blown up by the Nazis as they evacuated the camp. Cruelty did not end in Auschwitz, in Birkenau.
War, conflict and poverty in the Middle East and parts of Africa have triggered Europe’s largest refugee and migrant crisis since World War II, with some European Union countries refusing to accept asylum seekers over security and economic concerns.
As an Argentine he is the first pope to visit who did not himself live through the brutality of World War II on Europe’s soil.
John Paul’s visit in 1979 made history because it was the first ever by a pontiff, part of the Vatican’s historical efforts at reconciliation with Jews.
Rabbi David Rosen, the worldwide director of interreligious affairs at the American Jewish Committee, who accompanied the pope on his visit, told The New York Times: “In such a place, words are inadequate and it’s silence that becomes the ultimate expression of solidarity with the victims”. He later sat in silent prayer.
He then stopped to pray in an underground prison cell that was illuminated only by thin shafts of light from a tiny window.
Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, then recited in Hebrew Psalm 130, which starts: “From the depths I have cried out to you, O Lord”.
Friday is devoted to the theme of suffering.
Calling on the young pilgrims to show mercy to refugees and other persecuted people, the pontiff then asked: “Where is God when innocent persons die as a result of violence, terrorism and war”.
However, he added that families sometimes felt “alone in providing care”, and said he wished to “listen to everyone here, even if for only a moment, and be still before questions that have no easy answers”.
His head bowed, the pope prayed in silent contemplation before meeting Holocaust survivors – some of whom he tenderly kissed – in front of the death wall where the Nazis summarily executed thousands of people by firing squad.
At Block 11, the Pope met a group of former prisoners and some of those hailed as “righteous among nations” for risking their lives to save Jews. Today fewer than 240 in Poland are still alive.
“How I would wish that we Christians could be as close to the sick as Jesus was, embracing them and willingly seeking them out”, Pope Francis said. S. group, the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, offers them some financial help. “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.
Friday’s way of the Cross was one of the many events taking place in Krakow this week for the 14th World Youth Day, which has brought Francis to Poland.
Approximately a million people perished in Birkenau, the largest of the 40 camps in the Auschwitz complex situated in southern Germany.
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Furst, who now lives in Israel, gave the pope a photograph showing him and other inmates imprisoned in the Auschwitz barracks.
