(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis makes a somber visit on Friday to the site of the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau where 1.1 million people were murdered, nearly all of them Jews. The Director of the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum, Piotr Cywinski, said the Pope’s visit to this “terrible” but very important place was highly significant, especially in our present world marked by so much conflict and crises. By looking and learning from the past, he said, we can better understand the dangers of “populism, anti-semitism and all kinds of zenophobia" that we see in our times. Cywinski was interviewed by our correspondent, Lydia O'Kane. Listen to the interview with Piotr Cywinski, Director of the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum: With his visit on Friday to the former Nazi death camp, Pope Francis becomes the third Pope to visit the site after his predecessors, Saint John Paul II, a Pole and Benedict XVI, a German. During his visit, the Po...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis makes a somber visit on Friday to the site of the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau where 1.1 million people were murdered, nearly all of them Jews. The Director of the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum, Piotr Cywinski, said the Pope’s visit to this “terrible” but very important place was highly significant, especially in our present world marked by so much conflict and crises. By looking and learning from the past, he said, we can better understand the dangers of “populism, anti-semitism and all kinds of zenophobia" that we see in our times. Cywinski was interviewed by our correspondent, Lydia O'Kane.
Listen to the interview with Piotr Cywinski, Director of the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum:
With his visit on Friday to the former Nazi death camp, Pope Francis becomes the third Pope to visit the site after his predecessors, Saint John Paul II, a Pole and Benedict XVI, a German. During his visit, the Pope will pray at an execution wall and in the cell of St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan friar who volunteered to die at Auschwitz in order to save the life of another prisoner, a man with a family. He is also scheduled to meet a group of Auschwitz survivors as well as a group of Polish Christians who risked their lives during the war to help the Jews.
Cywinski said a visit to the camp is “fundamental” for our understanding of the post-war era and the issue of human rights. He noted Pope Francis’ commitment to Catholic-Jewish dialogue and said his visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau is “a clear sign” of “the Church’s approach to the Shoah and to the tragedy of the concentration camps.”
Pointing to our present era with its new wars and conflicts, Cywinski said by looking and learning from the past we can better understand the “dangers of populism, anti-semitism and all kinds of zenophobia." He said an example of the latter, was “what is happening now in many countries in Europe” and their attitude towards the refugees and migrants who are fleeing to the continent to escape war and conflict in their home nations.
“When we see this fear of people who are just escaping a war area in order to survive” ….. “This is also a kind of zenophobia, this fear of the other,” Cywinski said.
Saying we have “a lot to do to change this situation," Cywinski called for “a more humanistic vision” when dealing with these issues in our present times.
Adoration. / Thoom / Shutterstock.CNA Staff, Mar 28, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).Did you know that it is possible to sing a special song of adoration on Holy Thursday and have your soul purified?It's true, and the song is "Tantum Ergo."First, some background...A plenary indulgence is a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ to remove all temporal punishment due to sin.What does this mean?"An indulgence does not confer grace. An indulgence is not a remission of the guilt due to sin. The guilt due to sin is ordinarily taken away by the sacraments of baptism and penance (confession), in which we receive forgiveness for sins through Jesus Christ," the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) explains in this helpful Q&A."Although guilt is taken away, and with it the eternal penalty that is due to sin, namely, damnation, the eternal loss of the presence of God, there remain consequences for sins that those who have committed them ...
Asian elephant. / Credit: Filiz Elaerts / Unsplash (CC0)CNA Newsroom, Mar 27, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).Despite repeated protests from Catholic bishops, wildlife attacks continue to pose a severe threat to the lives and properties of both Catholics and other residents in the Southern Indian state of Kerala. On Wednesday, local media reported significant damage from two elephants in Kerala's Idukki district, alongside a tiger's attack on livestock. This year alone, elephant attacks have resulted in 27 fatalities in the region. Video footage of a Catholic man trampled to death on Feb. 10 made headlines and sparked protests, only to be followed by news of a potential mauling by a tiger of a Catholic woman on her way to Mass four days after the fatal attack. Further fatal elephant tramplings followed the incident.The Catholic Church in Kerala has been leading the charge in urging the government to take decisive action to protect human lives. "The series of shocking ...
Catholic faithful offer prayers during an Ash Wednesday Mass at St. Mary's Basilica in Secunderabad, the twin city of Hyderabad in India on Feb. 14, 2024. / Credit: NOAH SEELAM/AFP via Getty ImagesBangalore, India, Mar 27, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).A watchdog group that monitors violence committed against Christians in India has released a study documenting 161 such crimes in the first 75 days of 2024.These numbers may underestimate the number of crimes and acts of persecution committed against Christians in India, according to A.C. Michael, a Catholic and coordinator of the United Christian Forum (UCF), which released the report. "These figures are based only on the complaints registered on our toll-free helpline number (1-800-208-4545) to report incidents of anti-Christian violence. The actual numbers will be certainly much more," Michael told CNA on March 27."We feel frustrated that despite documenting and making public the shocking data regularly, there has been no re...