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Vatican:HolocaustRemembranceDayservesasawarning

Vatican: Holocaust
Remembrance Day serves
as a warning
20160122VaticanRadio
(Vatican Radio) The Vatican on Thursday
said Holocaust Remembrance Day calls
forauniversalandeverdeeperrespectfor
thedignityofeveryperson.
ThePermanentrepresentativeoftheHoly
See to the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Monsignor Janusz Urbaczyk, was speaking at
the OSCE Permanent Council. Holocaust Remembrance Day is commemorated
ever27January,theanniversaryoftheliberationoftheprisonersandsurvivorsof
theAuschwitzBirkenauconcentrationcampin1945.
InrememberingtheHolocaust,wealsorememberthatunlessallmenandwomen
arerecognizedasonegreatfamilyandunlesswecoexistwithbothneighbourand
stranger,inhumanityawaitsus,Msgr.Urbaczyksaid.
The Vatican diplomat said the Day serves as a warning to prevent us from
yieldingtoideologiesthatjustifycontemptforhumandignity.

ThefullstatementbyMonsignorJanuszUrbaczykisbelow

STATEMENTOFMONSIGNORJANUSZURBACZYK
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Vatican:HolocaustRemembranceDayservesasawarning

PERMANENTREPRESENTATIVEOFTHEHOLYSEE,
ATTHE1086thMEETINGOFTHEOSCEPERMANENTCOUNCIL
21JANUARY2016
RE:HOLOCAUSTREMEMBRANCEDAY
Mr.Chairman,
I join the previous speakers in welcoming to the Permanent Council the State
Secretary for EU Affairs of the Prime Ministers Office of Hungary, Mr. Szabolcs
Takcs, Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, and Amb.
Felix Klein, Special Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany for
Relations with Jewish Organizations, issues relating to AntiSemitism, Holocaust
RemembranceandInternationalAspectsofSintiandRomaIssues.MyDelegation
is grateful for their presence and for their comprehensive presentation, which
coincides with the anniversary of the liberation of the prisoners and survivors of
the AuschwitzBirkenau concentration camp, now observed as International
HolocaustRemembranceDay.
The commemoration of this anniversary brings to mind all the victims of those
crimes against humanity, remembering especially the planned annihilation of the
Jews, and honouring those who, at the risk of their lives, protected persecuted
people,resistingthehomicidalfollyaroundthem.
Everyyearon27January,aswepauseinsilentmeditation,theobservanceofthe
HolocaustRemembranceDayinvitesustoreflectdeeplyonthesignificanceofthe
Shoah. With deep emotion, we think of the countless victims of blind racial and
religious hatred who suffered deportation, imprisonment and death in those
pervertedandinhumanplaces.Thememoryofthosedeeds,especiallytheShoah,
directedagainsttheJewishpeople,aswellastheplannedexterminationofRoma
and Sinti and other groups of people whom this evil programme treated with
outrightmalevolence,callsforauniversalandeverdeeperrespectforthedignity
ofeveryperson.InrememberingtheHolocaust,wealsorememberthatunlessall
men and women are recognized as one great family and unless we coexist with
both neighbour and stranger, inhumanity awaits us. Moreover, the remembrance
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Vatican:HolocaustRemembranceDayservesasawarning

oftheHolocaustservesasawarningtopreventusfromyieldingtoideologiesthat
justify contempt for human dignity. Todays commemoration is an opportunity to
honour also all those men, women and children who in the course of history,
includingourowntime,sufferatthehandsoftheirfellowhumanbeingswhoare
motivatedbyhatredandsotooweareallawareofideologieswhich,eventoday,
inpartsofourworld,seektojustifysuchcontempt.
It is disturbing indeed to witness how so many human hearts are still filled with
hatred:ontheonehand,thereistheabuseofGodsnameforthejustificationof
senseless violence against innocent people on the other, the cynicism which
showscontemptforGodandridiculesfaithinhim.Theinnatedignityofeachand
everypersondemandsthatnoregimeorideologybeallowedtoconsiderandtreat
human beings as anything less than equals, endowed by the Creator with
inalienable rights and dignity. May the Shoah be a continuous call to reject anti
Semitismandtoengagesincerely,withdeeprespectandcareforeachother,ina
dialogueofcommonunderstanding,whichistheonlysecurewaythatcanleadus
allpeoples,allculturesandallreligionsoftheworldtothedesiredencounterof
fraternityandpeace.
It has been just two months since we marked the 50th anniversary of the
Declaration Nostra Aetate of the Second Vatican Council, which clearly affirms
thattheCatholicChurchdeploresthehatred,persecutions,anddisplaysofanti
SemitismdirectedagainsttheJewsatanytimeandfromanysource1.Thisisthe
position of the Catholic Church on antiSemitism, which has been reaffirmed on
variousoccasionsbythePopes,whohaveemphasizedthatantiSemitismhasno
placeintheCatholicChurch.
TheHolySeeisprofoundlyandirrevocablycommittedtocontinueworkinginthis
direction because, as Pope Francis said last Sunday, Six million persons, just
becausetheybelongedtotheJewishpeople,werevictimsofthemostinhumane
barbarityperpetratedinthenameofanideologythatwantedtoreplaceGodwith
mantheirsuffering,theirfear,theirtearsmustneverbeforgotten.Andthepast
mustserveasalessonforthepresentandforthefuture.TheHolocaustteaches
us that utmost vigilance is always needed to be able to take prompt action in
defenseofhumandignityandpeace.2
Thankyou,Mr.Chairman!

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1SecondVaticanEcumenicalCouncil,DeclarationNostraAetate,4.
2PopeFrancis,AddressattheGreatSynagogueofRome,17January2016.
(fromVaticanRadio)

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