Sunday, May 28, to pray and meet Holocaust survivors. Walking solemnly with his hands clasped, he passed under the infamous gate with the notorious words, "Arbeit Macht Frei" or, "Work Sets You Free."
The leader of the world’s over one billion Catholics arrived in Auschwitz shortly after a massive Mass in a field in Krakow, known as Blonia park, amid 900,000 Poles, who sang, clapped and chanted "Benedetto, Benedetto".
The Pontiff praised the crowd’s enthusiasm saying this was the best way to honor his predecessor, John Paul II – one of the themes of his visit to John Paul’s homeland.
"I ask you, finally, to share with the other peoples of Europe and the world the treasure of your faith, not least as a way of honoring the memory of your countryman, who, as the successor of St Peter, did this with extraordinary power and effectiveness," Benedict XVI added.
At the end of his homily he urged the crowd in Polish "to stand firm in your faith. Stand firm in your hope. Stand firm in your love. Amen."
LONG LIFE
The crowd chanted his name and sang "Sto Lat," or "A Hundred Years," wishing him a long life. Benedict, whose four-day visit to Poland ended Sunday, May 28, appealed to the predominantly Catholic nation during several ceremonies at different locations to serve as a beacon of faith in an increasingly secular Europe.
He won praise and applause during his visit for encouraging prayers for John Paul II’s canonization, and for saying he hopes it will happen "in the near future." Evangelical Protestant Christians object to these kinds of ceremonies, saying everyone is "Holy" who accepts Jesus Christ as Personal Savior and Lord.
The noisy Mass on Sunday, May 28, stood in sharp contrast with the pope’s silent prayers in Auschwitz, seen as the most significant step in developing closer Catholic-Jewish relations.
Six million Jews were killed by the Nazis and their allies in concentration camps, of which at least 1.5 million in Auschwitz alone, experts say.
Other than a brief greeting to the local bishop, the pontiff kept silent, his lips moving in prayer and the wind tossing his white hair as he stopped before the execution wall where the Nazis killed prisoners, eyewitnesses said.
LIGHTED CANDLE
Then, he was handed a lighted candle, which he placed before the wall. A line of elderly camp survivors awaited him in the courtyard. He moved slowly down the line, stopping to talk with each, taking one woman’s face in his hands, an Associated Press reporter said.
He also visited a underground cell that held Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest who traded his life for that of a married man at Auschwitz in 1941. Kolbe was canonized by John Paul II in 1982.
Yet his visit to Auschwitz was overshadowed by news of an attack on Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich in Warsaw on Saturday by a young man reportedly shouting "Poland for the Poles!" The Polish Interior Ministry said it was looking for a 25-year old man who may have attacked the New York-born Schudrich.
Schudrich was due to pray with Benedict XVI later on Sunday, May 29, saying, "This incident is very nasty but let’s not let it undermine the great importance of today’s event."
THIRD VISIT
This was the third time Benedict has visited Auschwitz and the neighboring camp at Birkenau. The first was in 1979, when he accompanied John Paul, and in 1980, when he came with a group of German bishops while he was archbishop of Munich.
Recalling Benedict’s Polish predecessor had visited the camp in 1979, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters on Saturday: "John Paul went to Auschwitz as a son of the Polish people and Benedict is going as the son of the German people."
After the main camp, he was due to visit a nearby center for dialogue among Poles, Germans and Jews and then pray at the Birkenau section of the camp, where Jews were led from trains straight to their deaths in gas chambers.
In published remarks, Navarro-Valls said Benedict had insisted on visiting Auschwitz during his trip to Poland, ending a sentimental journey to the cities and shrines that were central to his predecessor’s life and spirituality. He was expected to return to the Vatican later Sunday, May 28. (With BosNewsLife Research and reports from Poland).
