The pope walked unaccompanied through the Auschwitz entrance, passing under the gate bearing the infamous phrase, “Arbeit macht frei“, German for “Work sets you free”.
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Among the survivors he met were Helena Dunicz Niwinska, a 101-year-old woman who played the violin in the Auschwitz orchestra, as well as survivors who worked at the camp hospital or who were there as children. One survivor, Valentina Nikodem, helped deliver babies born to Auschwitz inmates.
“In the face of evil, suffering and sin, the only response possible for a disciple of Jesus is the gift of self, even of one’s own life, in imitation of Christ”, said the pontiff.
“You don’t need words”.
The Argentine will later lead prayers for the 1.1 million mostly Jewish victims murdered at the camp.
Among them will be Maria Augustyn, whose family hid a Jewish couple behind a wardrobe for years, and Anna Bando, who helped rescue an orphan from the Warsaw ghetto and gave several Jews forged “Aryan” papers.
Pope Francis has visited the Auschwitz death camp in Poland, where he prayed silently in tribute to the 1.5 million people, a lot of them Jews, who perished there at the hands of Nazi occupiers during World War Two.
Except for the brief exchange with the survivors and rescuers, Francis spent his almost two hours at the death camps in quiet prayer and reflection.
Pope Francis visited Auschwitz on Friday to pay his respects to the thousands of people who lost their lives there during World War II. “Lord, forgiveness for so much cruelty!” He signed it with his Latin name, Franciscus, and dated the entry 29.7.2016.
Later on Friday, the pope was to take part in a Way of the Cross ceremony attended by young people at Kraków’s Błonie common.
“How much pain! How much cruelty!” “If you are a priest or a Jew, I don’t think you can survive longer than a week or two weeks”, he said, relaying the commanders’ comments.
Quiet reflection and prayer for Francis at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Let’s all pray together for these people who are suffering in the world today so many bad things, many bad things. “Many prisoners are tortured, just to make them talk”. “. But today in many places of the world where there is war, it’s the same!”
Pope Francis’ visit to the camps marks the second full day of his July 27-31 trip to Poland, where he is leading World Youth Day celebrations in Krakow.
The Pope offered his encouragement to all medical professionals, chaplains and volunteers who have made it a “personal life decision” to respond to the Gospel’s call to “visit the sick”.
His visit in 1979 made history and was part of the Vatican’s historical efforts at reconciliation with Jews.
Meanwhile, Benedict XVI, who went to the site in 2006, was a German who had been conscripted into the Hitler Youth as a teenager.
Pope Francis prayed silently for more than 15 minutes before greeting the survivors.
He then stopped to pray in an underground prison cell that was illuminated only by thin shafts of light from a tiny window.
As he arrived Wednesday in Krakow the pontiff urged Poland to welcome people fleeing conflict and hardship, chastising a right-wing government that has refused to welcome refugees citing security risks.
These are questions, he added, that “humanly speaking, have no answer”. The Pope is on a five-day visit to Poland which will culminate with the World Youth Day on Sunday.
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Pope Francis has praised native son St. John Paul II as a “meek and powerful” herald of mercy as well as countless “ordinary yet remarkable people” who held firm to their Catholic faith throughout adversity in the former Communist-ruled nation.
