Pope: "I am still pained" over Kristallnacht and the Holocaust
(November 10, 2008) Pope Benedict XVI today recalled the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht,
the programme carried out against Jewish citizens, synagogues, offices, neighbourhoods,
from November 9-10, 1938, which "began the violent persecution that concluded with
the Holocaust." The pope expressed this commemoration at the end of the prayer of
the Angelus, with more than 30,000 faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square. Pope
Benedict XVI, a German pope, said that he is "still pained today over what happened
in those tragic circumstances." He called upon all to join him to express "solidarity
with the Jewish world," and that, above all through the education of young people,
"the horror of anti-Semitism and discrimination may never be repeated again." The
pontiff then issued a new appeal for the population of North Kivu in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, where "bloody armed confrontations and systematic atrocities have
caused and are causing numerous victims among innocent civilians; destruction, and
violence of every kind have again forced tens of thousands of people to abandon the
little that they had to survive. It is estimated that there are more than one and
a half million refugees." "To all and to each of them," the pope said, "I wish to
express my particular closeness, while I encourage and bless all of those who are
working to alleviate their sufferings. To the families deprived of their loved ones,
I send my condolences and assurances of my prayers. Finally, I renew my fervent appeal
that all may work to restore peace to that long-tormented land." Pope Benedict XVI
then turned his attention to the Day of Thanksgiving being celebrated in Italy, under
the theme "I was hungry and you gave me to eat," to highlight the problem of hunger
and the fair distribution of the fruits of the earth, at a time when food price inflation
is causing a nutritional crisis for many families in the world. Before the Angelus,
Pope Benedict XVI commented on the Day’s feast that of the dedication of the Basilica
of St. John Lateran, called "mother and head of all the churches of the City and of
the World." "This basilica," the pontiff explained, "was the first to be built after
the edict of the Emperor Constantine, who, in 313, granted Christians the freedom
to practice their religion. The emperor also gave Pope Miltiades the ancient property
of the Lateran family, and had the basilica built there, the baptistery and the residence
of the bishop of Rome, where the popes lived until the Avignon period. The dedication
of the basilica was celebrated by Pope Sylvester at around 324, and the church was
named after the Most Holy Saviour; it was only after the sixth century that the titles
of St. John the Baptist and John the Evangelist were added, the names by which it
became commonly known. He added that God wants to build a spiritual temple in the
world, a community that will adore him in spirit and truth.