News
Benedict XVI Prays at Birkenau for the Grace of Reconciliation
Birkenau, May 28 (PAP-Polish Press Agency) Benedict XVI prayed for the "grace of reconciliation" at the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, where the Nazis murdered at least 1.1 million people, most of them Jews. "I could not fail to come here," the Pope said during a ceremony attended by almost 200 prisoners of the camp.
As John Paul II had done, Benedict XVI walked along the 22 plaques commemorating the death of prisoners from various countries. He paused before each of the plaques and prayed briefly.
"God of Peace, You yourself are the peace that is inconceivable to a quarrelsome person, ready for disputes. Grant that those who live in harmony may endure in peace, and turn the contentious onto the way of reconciliation," Benedict XVI prayed in German, along with the representatives of other religions and faiths, during rites for the intention of the camp's victims.
The observances began with words from the 22nd Psalm: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Romani Rose prayed for the intention of the Roma, Archbishop Simon of the diocese of Łódź-Poznań for the Orthodox, Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki of Poznań for the Roman Catholics, Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich in Hebrew for the Jews (a cantor earlier sang the Kaddish), and Bishop Mieczysław Cieślar of the Evangelic-Augsburg diocese of Warsaw in English for the protestants.
"May this place be a warning," Schudrich said before the prayers. He stressed that the Jewish people are mindful of the Righteous among the Nations, many of whom were Poles who rescued Jews at the risk of their own lives.
"I could not fail to come here," said Benedict XVI, alluding to words spoken at Auschwitz by John Paul II in June 1979.
"I am here today to beseech the grace of reconciliation, to beseech God above all, for only He can open and cleanse the human heart, but also to beseech the people who suffered here," said the Pontiff in a speech that he delivered in Italian. He admitted that speaking in this place about unparalleled crimes against God and man was "almost an impossible thing, and especially difficult and disheartening for a Christian, for a Pope who comes from Germany."
Benedict XVI noted that he was following the example of John Paul II in walking along the row of plaques that commemorate the victims in various languages: Belarusian, Czech, German, French, Greek, Hebrew, Croatian, Italian, Yiddish, Hungarian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Roma, Romanian, Slovak, Serbian, Ukrainian, Judeo-Spanish, and English.
"We stand today at a memorial site, which is simultaneously the site of the Shoah," said Benedict XVI.
He admitted that he felt an internal need "To pause specifically before the plaque bearing an inscription in the German language . . . The Germans who were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau at that time and murdered here were regarded as the 'Abschaum der Nation' –the outcasts of society. Today, we remember them with gratitude as witnesses to the truth and to the good that endured even in our nation. We are grateful to them for refusing to submit to the authority of evil, and today they are like a light in the darkness of night," said the Pope.
Speaking about the Auschwitz site, Benedict XVI referred to "the words that Sophocles placed on the lips of Antigone, as she contemplated the horror all around her: 'my nature is not to join in hate but to join in love'."
Representatives of the Jewish community thanked the Pope for visiting the camp. Benedict XVI placed a metal rose bush bearing a plaque that read "The freedom to kill is not authentic freedom, but tyranny" at the base of the monument.
Rain began falling when the pontiff arrived. As he was walking along the row of memorial plaques, a rainbow—the sign in the Old Testament of God's covenant with man—appeared in the sky.
The Pope spoke from a place near the ruins of the crematoria. Closest to him stood former prisoners, in striped kerchiefs and armbands, and representatives of the Jewish community, some of whom were wearing yarmulkes in the white-and-yellow papal colors. The observances were also attended by about 2,500 Catholics from the Bielsko-Żywiec diocese, within which the Auschwitz site lies. Polish President Lech Kaczyński, Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, and the speakers of the Sejm (parliament) and Senate were present at Birkenau.
Over 30 television networks from outside Poland and 15 radio stations from Poland and other countries carried the observances live. This part of the pilgrimage was eagerly awaited by the international community and by the world media, which drew attention to the symbolic import of the fact that a German pope was visiting a Nazi death camp. (PAP)
