ROME (AP) – Pope Francis on Wednesday marked Holocaust Remembrance Day by warning that distorted ideologies could pave the way for another genocide.
Francis spoke of the cuff at the end of his weekly general hearing, which was held in his private library due to coronavirus restrictions. in Poland, where Nazis killed more than 1 million Jews and others.
In total, about 6 million European Jews and millions of other people were killed by the Germans and their collaborators.
The Argentine pope insisted it was important to remember and said it was a sign of humanity and a condition for a peaceful future. But he said to remember “also means to be aware that these things can happen again, to start with ideological proposals that claim to save a nation and ultimately destroy a nation and humanity.”
He warned that the Holocaust had begun that way and opened “this path of death, extermination and brutality”.
Francis prayed at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial during the 2016 visit to Poland.