Pope Francis has cancelled a speech during his visit to Auschwitz this month, saying he would prefer to mark the moment in silence.
The Vatican’s schedule for the Pope’s visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau on July 29 had him giving a speech just as St John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI did.
But on the flight back to Rome from Armenia, Fr Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told Pope Francis: “I heard that you want to live that moment more with silence than words.”
The Pope reminded reporters that in 2014 when he went to Redipuglia in northern Italy to mark the 100th anniversary of World War I, “I went in silence,” walking alone among the graves. “Then there was the Mass and I preached at Mass, but that was something else.”
Speaking about his visit to Auschwitz he said: “I would like to go to that place of horror without speeches, without crowds – only the few people necessary,” he said. “Alone, enter, pray. And may the Lord give me the grace to cry.”
Fr Lombardi confirmed that the programme had been changed and the Pope would not give a speech at Auschwitz. At Armenia’s genocide memorial the Pope also asked for no speeches. Two years ago Francis visited Israel’s Shoah memorial, Yad Vashem, and, in a speech, he prayed to God: “Grant us the grace to be ashamed of what we men have done, to be ashamed of this massive idolatry, of having despised and destroyed our own flesh which you formed from the earth, to which you gave life with your own breath of life. Never again, Lord, never again!”
World Youth Day pilgrims will have to walk 18 miles
Young people attending World Youth Day 2016 in Kraków, Poland, will have to walk 18 miles to and from one of its key sites, event organisers have said.
“They’ll have to be ready for a long foot journey of several hours, but this has always been a feature of World Youth Days,” said Anna Chmura, WYD’s communications coordinator.
“There’ll be several designated routes, mostly from Kraków, and they’ll all be used heavily. But we’re confident the logistics and security have now been carefully worked out,” she told the US Catholic News Service.
The event, which runs from July 26-31, is expected to bring two million people from 187 countries to the southern Polish city. They will be accompanied by 47 cardinals, 800 bishops and 20,000 priests.
The July 30-31 vigil and Mass, on the fourth and fifth days of Francis’s visit, will require nearly everyone to make the nine-mile journey to Campus Misericordiae, near Poland’s Wieliczka salt mine, Mrs Chmura said.
Buses will be available only for the 2,000 disabled people registered as well as the elderly and those with special needs.
Founder dies at jubilee Mass
The founder of a religious order has died of a heart attack at a Mass celebrating 75 years since she first made her vows.
Mother Rosemae Pender, , Mother Foundress of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, had received the renewal of her vows before collapsing at the Mass. She was 94. Her order gained official recognition from the Vatican in 1973 and she had served as its mother general until 2005.
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.