International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the Church

Father Norbert Hoffman, secretary of the Holy See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, said the Pope “began the dialogue by mentioning the importance of this day for the Jews, but also for us, because remembering the victims of the Holocaust is important so that this human tragedy never happens again”.

The President of the Congress, Moshe Kantor, spoke about “the importance of ethics, that is, of the values which Christians and Jews have in common. He said that in our world we see much progress but also a decline in moral and ethical values. Therefore, we need to strengthen these values which we share. And then he spoke about the importance of education and the family.”

Pope Francis agreed completely with these themes and shared a story from his childhood. “The Pope said that, in his family, his father often received Jews… and thus, already as a child, our Pope learned to have several Jewish friends.”

Also on Friday, the Vatican’s permanent representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the Holocaust teaches us that “utmost vigilance is always needed to be able to take prompt action in defense of human dignity and peace”. The Vatican’s permanent representative to the OSCE, Msgr Janusz Urbanczyk, marked “Holocaust Remembrance Day” stressing, at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting, that the lessons of the pass never be forgotten and that efforts be renewed to defend human dignity and promote peace.”

For full text see here