Symbolic act of atonement by Pope at Auschwitz concludes visit to Poland

Pope Benedict has returned to the Vatican after his symbolic act of contrition at Auschwitz.

At the end of his four-day pilgrimage to Poland, the pontiff led prayers for atonement at the Birkenau monument near the infamous former Nazi death camp. The Pope said he sought reconciliation in a place of horror. The former cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was briefly in the German army at the end of the Second World War. He said: “In a place like this, words fail. In the end there can only be a dread silence, a silence which is itself a heartfelt cry to God: Why Lord did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?” The haunting Jewish prayer for the dead concluded a day of penitence.

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