Pope recalled the ‘in the name of God’ hatred they imposed on Jews in Slovakia during WWII

Pope Francis recalled today that the “name of God was dishonored” by the same men of the Church and referred to the “madness of hatred” against the Jews during World War II, meeting with representatives of the Jewish community in Slovakia on the second day of his trip to that country.

In front of the remains of the synagogue in Bratislava, demolished by the communist regime in the 1960s, Francis said that during World War II “the name of God was dishonored, because the worst blasphemy that one can commit is use for their own ends, rather than respecting and loving others ”, referring to the anti-Jewish laws and practices applied by the Slovak regime of the time, an ally of the Nazis and led by the Catholic priest Jozef Tiso.

“Here, in the face of the history of the Jewish people, marked by this tragic and indescribable grievance, we are ashamed to admit it: How many times has the ineffable name of the Most High been used to perform actions which, due to their lack of humanity, are unspeakable! “, he stressed.

And he criticized the times when the oppressors declared “God is with us “, when” they were those who were not with God”.

“These are the idols of power and money which impose themselves on the dignity of man, of indifference which looks elsewhere, of manipulations which instrumentalise religion, make it a matter of supremacy or reduce it to l ‘insignificance,’ he asserted.

He also regretted “what is forgetting the past” or “the ignorance that justifies everything, anger and hatred” and called for the unity of religions “by condemning all violence, all forms of anti-Semitism, and in the effort so that the image of God in the human person is not profaned ”.

Slovak Jews suffered one of the harshest persecutions in Europe: of the 89,000 in the country in 1940, some 69,000 were killed in the Holocaust. Currently, they number around 5,000 and represent only 0.1% of the company.

In front of the Pope, he spoke with one of the Slovak Jews whose family “was broken by anti-Jewish law “.

“When I was three months old, my father’s convoy headed for the Eastern Front. There, their traces disappear. It was only after 50 years that I learned from the archives that he was died in Ukraine. My mother was left alone with me. In 1944 she was taken from Budapest in one of the convoys. Those who returned later announced that he had died during the death march somewhere in Germany, ”he said.

Just last Wednesday, the Slovak government apologized for the terrible “Jewish code” which deprived the country’s Jews of their human and civic rights.

Visit to Mother Teresa’s house for the needy in Bratislava

Francis visited the “Bethlehem” center dedicated to disadvantaged people managed by the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa of Calcutta in Bratislava, where he travels, and assured: “God is always with us. Especially in bad times.”

“Thank you for the work you do here, welcoming you and supporting you. The Lord is always with us when we are together. We don’t see him, but he’s our partner. Especially in bad times, don’t forget it, ”Francisco told the hundreds of people who showed up at the gates of the center and before going to visit him in private.

The Bethlehem Center is located in the district of Petržalka, a district of high-rise social housing buildings, where the Sisters of Mother Teresa have been caring for the homeless for 20 years, those in need of help and above all the sick, many of whom are at the end of their lives.

They provide beds, hot meals, and bathrooms as well as a few rooms for long-term hospital stays or terminally ill patients, and missionaries also provide assistance, clothing, and essentials.

The Pope was received by the superior of the Bethlehem Center and then visited the building for half an hour and concluded by praying a “Hail Mary” with the neighbors who came.

(with information from the EFE)

Read on: