Francis had said he wanted his visit – the third by a pope – to be conducted in silence. “I would like to go to that place of horror without speeches, without crowds – only the few people necessary”.
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The Argentine later lead prayers for the 1.1 million mostly-Jewish victims murdered at the camp as part of Nazi Germany’s “Final Solution” of genocide against European Jews which claimed six million lives all told during World War II.
One of the male survivors gave the pope a picture of himself surrounded by other inmates in a bunk, and asked Francis to sign it.
Francis will be in Poland for a total of five days, on a trip marking 1,050 years since the country’s adoption of Christianity. “It’s a reflection of the extraordinary individual that he is”.
Auschwitz was part of the itinerary of Polish-born Pope John Paul II’s first pilgrimage to his homeland, on 7 June 1979, and of the pilgrimage of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 June 2006.
Francis devoted Friday to the theme of suffering. He chose not to speak publicly during Friday’s visit, wanting instead to remain silent in the face of such tragic history.
The Vatican said ahead of his visit that his guest book visit was meant to be his only words on the site, because he preferred to commemorate the victims in silence.
Pope Francis visited Auschwitz in silence but left a message in the memorial site’s guest book: “Lord, have pity on your people”.
Poland’s chief rabbi sang in Hebrew a psalm for the dead watched by an audience including Auschwitz survivors. “Lord, forgiveness for so much cruelty”.
Pope Francis pays respects by the death wall in the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland, July 29, 2016. One by one, he stopped, shook their hands and bent over to kiss the elderly survivors on both cheeks.
On Thursday, he addressed pilgrims gathered at World Youth Day celebrations in the city of Krakow, urging them to welcome asylum seekers and refugees.
Among the cells was that which held the Polish Catholic priest Maximillian Kolbe, who died in 1941 when he volunteered to take the place of another prisoner set to be executed. He also visited a pediatric hospital in Krakow and in the evening was presiding over a Way of the Cross with the young people.
Inclement weather forced Pope Francis to travel by auto for about 65 kilometers (40 miles) from Krakow to Oswiecim where the concentration camp-turned-museum is located.
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Marking the third day of his trip to Poland for an global gathering of Catholic youth, Francis spent a few minutes speaking quietly and exchanging gifts with about 12 Auschwitz survivors, including a 101-year-old woman.
