ROME (AP) – Pope Francis marked Holocaust memorial day on Wednesday by warning that distorted ideologies could pave the way for another genocide.
Francis spoke out at the end of his weekly General Audience, which was held in his private library due to coronavirus restrictions, in commemoration of the 76th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp in Poland, where Nazis murdered more than 1 million Jews and others.
In total, about 6 million European Jews and millions of other people were murdered by the Germans and their collaborators.
The Argentine Pope insisted on the need to remember, saying it was a sign of humanity and a prerequisite for a peaceful future. But he said remembering “also means being aware that these things can happen again, starting with ideological proposals that claim to save a people and ultimately destroy a people and humanity.”
He warned that the Holocaust began that way and opened “this path of death, extermination and cruelty.”
Francis prayed at the Auschwitz-Birkenau monument during his visit to Poland in 2016.