Pope Francis Plans To Visit Auschwitz During Trip to Poland in July
Image by Getty Images
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis is expected to visit the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz during his visit to Poland in July, the Vatican said.
The Vatican spokesman, speaking during the presentation of a book by a 90-year-old Italian Holocaust survivor on Wednesday night, said the visit was “highly probable.”
Francis will be in the southern Polish city of Krakow in July for an international jamboree of Catholic youth.
Auschwitz, which is the German name for the Polish town of Oswiecim where the camp is located, is about 65 km (40.39 miles)from Krakow.
Both of Francis’ predecessors, Pope Benedict, a German, and Pope John Paul, a Pole, visited Auschwitz during their pontificates.
Francis visited Rome’s synagogue earlier this month and said the Holocaust, in which some 6 million Jews were killed, should remind everyone of the need for the “maximum vigilance” in the defense of human rights. (Reporting By Philip Pullella Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
