TURIN, Italy — Pope Francis on Sunday denounced what he calls the “great powers” of the world for failing to act when there was intelligence indicating Jews, Christians, homosexuals and others were being transported to death camps in Europe during World War II.
He also decried the deaths of Christians in concentration camps in Russia under the Stalin dictatorship, which followed the war.
The pope’s harsh assessments came in impromptu remarks during his visit to Turin, northern Italy, when he told young people he understands how they find it hard to trust the world.
“The great powers had photographs of the railway routes that the trains took to the concentration camps, like Auschwitz, to kill the Jews, and also the Christians, and also the Roma, also the homosexuals,” Francis said, citing the death camp in Poland. “Tell me, why didn’t they bomb” those railroad routes?
Referring to concentration camps that came “a little later” in Russia, Francis wondered aloud: “How many Christians suffered, were killed” there?
Lamenting the cynicism of world players in the 1930s and 1940s, Francis said: “the great powers divided up Europe like a cake.”
In April, the pope angered Turkey when he referred to the slaughter of Armenians in the early part of the 20th Century by Turkish Ottomans as “genocide.”
In today’s world, he told the young people: “Everything is done for money.” He criticized those advocating peace while manufacturing or selling arms.
Francis reiterated his view that conflicts in the world today are tantamount to “a Third World War in segments.”
The pope also paused in silent prayer before the Shroud of Turin on Sunday, becoming the latest of hundreds of thousands of people who have come this year to Turin’s cathedral to view the burial linen some believe covered the body of Jesus after crucifixion.
Later, he celebrated the Mass of the Faithful in a packed Turin square and made an unscheduled stop at the church in Turin where his paternal grandparents were married in 1907, and where, in 1908, his father, Mario, was baptized.
