Pope Leo on Wednesday appealed for a world free of anti-Semitism, prejudice, oppression and persecution, before linking the message to International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was celebrated the day before.
Speaking at the end of his weekly audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, the Pope recalled the commemoration of January 27 in honor of the millions of murdered Jews and others.
Pope Leo called it an “annual occasion of painful commemoration” and urged the international community to remain vigilant so that “the horror of genocide will never again be inflicted on any people” and so that societies can be built rooted in “mutual respect and the common good.”
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Pope Leo marks Holocaust Remembrance Day with a call against anti-Semitism. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
“I ask the Almighty for the gift of a world no longer characterized by anti-Semitism, nor by prejudice, oppression and persecution of any human being,” the Pope said.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945.
The Holocaust resulted in the systematic murder of 6 million Jews and millions of others during World War II.
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Pope Leo marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day with a call against anti-Semitism, linking the January 27 commemoration to the need for dialogue on violence. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
On January 27, as he left his home in Castel Gandolfo, Leo also spoke to reporters.
When asked about rising tensions in the Middle East and the deployment of a US aircraft carrier in the region, amid protests and massacres in Iran at the hands of the Iranian regime, Leo emphasized the need to “pray hard for peace.”
“We little ones can raise our voices and always seek dialogue instead of violence to solve problems, especially on this day that commemorates the Shoah,” he added.
In a message on
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He stressed that the church “rejects any discrimination or intimidation based on ethnicity, language, nationality or religion” and encouraged dialogue rather than violence as a means of resolving conflict.
