Pope Benedict XVI Visits Auschwitz

Pope Benedict XVI walks through the infamous entry gate at Auschwitz.

Pope Benedict XVI, born Joseph Ratzinger to a Bavarian policeman in 1927, followed in the footsteps of his predecessor, John Paul II, by visiting Auschwitz at the end of a four-day pilgrimage to Poland. In an attempt to set the tone for his papacy, this trip draws a connection between the new pope and and his much beloved Polish predecessor, all the while gathering the support of the Polish people and Catholics everywhere.

In a further nod to legacy of John Paul, Pope Benedict XVI powerfully reflected,

"In a place like this, words fail. In the end, there can only be a dread silence, a silence which is a heartfelt cry to God—Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?"

"Where was God in those days? Why was he silent? How could he permit this endless slaughter, this triumph of evil?"

But, unlike John Paul II, he did not speak of his personal experience of that unspeakable time (he was unwillingly forced into the Hitler Youth and the German Army). He then framed the Nazis' attempt to eradicate the Jews as an attempt of human beings to replace God. Though he attempted to reach out to Jews, his theological approach makes me uneasy.

Ian Fisher wrote in the New York Times:

"And while he spoke eloquently about "forgiveness and reconciliation," Benedict did not beg pardon for the sins of Germans or the Roman Catholic Church during World War II. He laid the blame squarely on the Nazi regime, avoiding a common acknowledgment among many Germans that ordinary citizens also shared responsibility."

"And the images, beamed around the world, were striking: the pope in pristine white walking alone under the infamous iron lie promising freedom through work; a kiss on the cheek to a Jewish survivor; dark rain that gave way to sun and then, somehow, a rainbow as he finished prayers."

Along with these poignant scenes, the pope also placed a single lit candle in the front of the execution wall at Auschwitz. I am afraid, though, that the images of the day may be just so much good PR.

Before Pope Benedict XVI spoke, Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich chanted the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead. Schudrich also paid tribute to all Nazi victims everywhere and recalled that many righteous people, including many Poles, had sheltered Jews during the war. But, in a chilling reminder that anti-semitism still lives, the New York-born rabbi was attacked on a Warsaw street on Saturday by a young man shouting "Poland is for Poles."

You can read more about Pope Benedict's visit to Auschwitz in these archived articles from The New York Times and MSNBC (originally posted here and here). Though both appear to be decent recountings of the events, I'd like to draw your attention to the way that the Times story mentions how Benedict departed from John Paul. In particular, Benedict's avoidance of even the suggestion of responsibility of the greater German population beyond the Nazi regime. Where the MSNBC story speaks of Benedict's actions only as facts, casting them in a seemingly glowing light, the Times piece places these events in a deeper historical context, revealing a grayer truth.