On Wednesday, Pope Francis marked the International Holocaust Remembrance Day – the commemoration of the liberation from the Auschwitz death camp – by urging people to keep a close eye on distorted ideologies.
‘To remember is an expression of humanity. To remember is a sign of civilization. To remember is a condition for a better future of peace and brotherhood, ‘Francis said to his general audience, held in the papal library amid coronavirus restrictions.
He said society should not beware of the dangers of rising nationalism.
“To remember also means to be careful, because these things can happen again, starting with ideological proposals that claim to want to save a nation, but ultimately destroy a nation and humanity,” he said.
“Be wary of the way this path of death, extermination and brutality began,” he added, referring to the Nazis’ rise to power on a wave of extreme nationalism.
The pope spoke three weeks after displays of anti-Semitism were seen during the riots at the US Capitol, where some supporters of former President Trump wore clothes with Nazi symbols.
One wore a T-shirt titled “Camp Auschwitz” and the other wore a shirt with the caption “6MWE”, a far-right acronym that stands for “6 million was not enough.”
Most Holocaust memorial events were held online this year because of the virus, including the ceremony in the former Auschwitz camp, where the Nazis killed 1.1 million people in occupied Poland.
Israel celebrates its anniversary, Yom HaShoah, in April.
With Post threads