Pacem in terris
Auschwitz, along with so many other concentration camps, remains the horribly eloquent symbol of the effects of totalitarianism. It is our duty to make a pilgrimage to these places, in mind and heart, on this 50th anniversary. As I said at the Mass celebrated in 1979 at Brzezinka near Auschwitz: "I kneel at this Golgotha of the modern world". Recalling that pilgrimage, I now go back in spirit to those death camps. I pause especially "before the inscription in Hebrew" which commemorates the people "whose sons and daughters were condemned to total extermination" and reaffirm that "no one is permitted to pass by with indifference". As I did then, I pause before the inscription in Russian, after the changes which took place in the former Soviet Union, and I recall "the role which this country played in the last terrible war for the freedom of peoples". I then pause before the inscription in Polish and I think once more of the sacrifice made by so great a part of the nation, a sacrifice which represents "another painful blot on the conscience of mankind". What I said in 1979 I repeat today: "I have chosen three inscriptions. But we need to stop before every one of those here". Yes, on this 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, I feel strongly the need to pause before all those inscriptions, including those commemorating the sacrifice of victims little known or even forgotten...
Zechariah prophesied: "The day shall dawn upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace" (Lk 1:78-79). In this Easter season, which celebrates Christ's victory over sin, the source of division, grief and injustice, let us repeat the prayer with which my venerable Predecessor Pope John XXIII closed his Encyclical Letter Pacem in terris: "May the Lord enlighten the minds of rulers, so that, besides caring for the proper material welfare of their peoples, they may also guarantee them the great gift of peace. Finally, may Christ inflame the desires of all to break through the barriers which divide them, to strengthen the bonds of mutual love, to learn to understand one another, and to pardon those who have done them wrong. Through his power and inspiration may all peoples become as brothers, and may the peace they long for ever flourish and ever reign among them"
John Paul II On the Fiftieth Anniversary of the End of the Second World War In Europe (8.5.95)
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