Shortly after 9:00am today in Jerusalem, the Holy Father visited the Western Wall, commonly referred to as the Wailing Wall, where he was welcomed by the Chief Rabbi and the President of the Foundation which manages the shrine.
The Pope stood in silent prayer for a few moments, touching the wall with his right hand. Then he placed in crevice in the wall - as is customary for the faithful - an envelope containing a page upon which the words of the Our Father are written in Spanish. As he did so, he said: I wrote to my Father with my own hand, in the language in which I learned it from my mother.
Following his stop at the Western Wall, the Pope travelled by car to Mount Herzl, where he was welcomed by the President of Israel, Shimon Peres and by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In the mausoleum, assisted by a Christian young man and a Christian young woman, the Holy Father laid a wreath of flowers at the Tomb of Theodor Herzl, the founder of the Zionist Movement, which was established at the Basle Congress in 1897. Then, before travelling to the Yad Vashem Memorial, the Pope paid homage to the plaque commemorating the victims of terrorism.
At 10:15am, the Holy Father, Pope Francis went to visit the Yad Vashem Memorial, the monument commemorating the Holocaust.
Upon his arrival, he was welcomed by the President and the Director of the Centre. The Pope walked around the perimeter of the Mausoleum and ended up at the entrance of honor outside the Hall of Remembrance, where he was met by the President, the Prime Minister and the Rabbi President of the Council of Yad Vashem.
After lighting the flame and placing a wreath of flowers at the Mausoleum, a passage from the Old Testament was read aloud. The President of the Centre made a brief introductory presentation, and then the Holy Father pronounced the speech that follows.
At the conclusion of his speech, the Pope greeted some holocaust survivors. He then traveled by car to the Heichal Shlomo Centre, the seat of the Grand Rabbinate of Israel.
Adam, where are you? (cf. Gen 3:9)
Where are you, o man? What have you come to?
In this place, this memorial of the Shoah, we hear God’s question echo once more: Adam, where are you?
This question is charged with all the sorrow of a Father who has lost his child.
The Father knew the risk of freedom; he knew that his children could be lost… yet perhaps not even the Father could imagine so great a fall, so profound an abyss!
Here, before the boundless tragedy of the Holocaust, that cry – Where are you? – echoes like a faint voice in an unfathomable abyss…
Adam, who are you? I no longer recognize you.
Who are you, o man? What have you become?
Of what horror have you been capable?
What made you fall to such depths?
Certainly it is not the dust of the earth from which you were made.
The dust of the earth is something good, the work of my hands.
Certainly it is not the breath of life which I breathed into you.
That breath comes from me, and it is something good (cf. Gen 2:7).
No, this abyss is not merely the work of your own hands, your own heart… Who corrupted you? Who disfigured you?
Who led you to presume that you are the master of good and evil?
Who convinced you that you were god? Not only did you torture and kill your brothers and sisters, but you sacrificed them to yourself, because you made yourself a god. Today, in this place, we hear once more the voice of God: Adam, where are you?
From the ground there rises up a soft cry: Have mercy on us, O Lord!
To you, O Lord our God, belongs righteousness; but to us confusion of face and shame (cf. Bar 1:15).
A great evil has befallen us, such as never happened under the heavens (cf. Bar 2:2). Now, Lord, hear our prayer, hear our plea, save us in your mercy. Save us from this horror.
Almighty Lord, a soul in anguish cries out to you.
Hear, Lord, and have mercy!
We have sinned against you. You reign for ever (cf. Bar 3:1-2).
Remember us in your mercy. Grant us the grace to be ashamed of what we men have done, to be ashamed of this massive idolatry, of having despised and destroyed our own flesh which you formed from the earth, to which you gave life with your own breath of life.
Never again, Lord, never again!
Adam, where are you?
Here we are, Lord, shamed by what man, created in your own image and likeness, was capable of doing.
Remember us in your mercy.
The Pope stood in silent prayer for a few moments, touching the wall with his right hand. Then he placed in crevice in the wall - as is customary for the faithful - an envelope containing a page upon which the words of the Our Father are written in Spanish. As he did so, he said: I wrote to my Father with my own hand, in the language in which I learned it from my mother.
Following his stop at the Western Wall, the Pope travelled by car to Mount Herzl, where he was welcomed by the President of Israel, Shimon Peres and by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In the mausoleum, assisted by a Christian young man and a Christian young woman, the Holy Father laid a wreath of flowers at the Tomb of Theodor Herzl, the founder of the Zionist Movement, which was established at the Basle Congress in 1897. Then, before travelling to the Yad Vashem Memorial, the Pope paid homage to the plaque commemorating the victims of terrorism.
At 10:15am, the Holy Father, Pope Francis went to visit the Yad Vashem Memorial, the monument commemorating the Holocaust.
Upon his arrival, he was welcomed by the President and the Director of the Centre. The Pope walked around the perimeter of the Mausoleum and ended up at the entrance of honor outside the Hall of Remembrance, where he was met by the President, the Prime Minister and the Rabbi President of the Council of Yad Vashem.
After lighting the flame and placing a wreath of flowers at the Mausoleum, a passage from the Old Testament was read aloud. The President of the Centre made a brief introductory presentation, and then the Holy Father pronounced the speech that follows.
At the conclusion of his speech, the Pope greeted some holocaust survivors. He then traveled by car to the Heichal Shlomo Centre, the seat of the Grand Rabbinate of Israel.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
at the Yad Vashem Memorial
Adam, where are you? (cf. Gen 3:9)
Where are you, o man? What have you come to?
In this place, this memorial of the Shoah, we hear God’s question echo once more: Adam, where are you?
This question is charged with all the sorrow of a Father who has lost his child.
The Father knew the risk of freedom; he knew that his children could be lost… yet perhaps not even the Father could imagine so great a fall, so profound an abyss!
Here, before the boundless tragedy of the Holocaust, that cry – Where are you? – echoes like a faint voice in an unfathomable abyss…
Adam, who are you? I no longer recognize you.
Who are you, o man? What have you become?
Of what horror have you been capable?
What made you fall to such depths?
Certainly it is not the dust of the earth from which you were made.
The dust of the earth is something good, the work of my hands.
Certainly it is not the breath of life which I breathed into you.
That breath comes from me, and it is something good (cf. Gen 2:7).
No, this abyss is not merely the work of your own hands, your own heart… Who corrupted you? Who disfigured you?
Who led you to presume that you are the master of good and evil?
Who convinced you that you were god? Not only did you torture and kill your brothers and sisters, but you sacrificed them to yourself, because you made yourself a god. Today, in this place, we hear once more the voice of God: Adam, where are you?
From the ground there rises up a soft cry: Have mercy on us, O Lord!
To you, O Lord our God, belongs righteousness; but to us confusion of face and shame (cf. Bar 1:15).
A great evil has befallen us, such as never happened under the heavens (cf. Bar 2:2). Now, Lord, hear our prayer, hear our plea, save us in your mercy. Save us from this horror.
Almighty Lord, a soul in anguish cries out to you.
Hear, Lord, and have mercy!
We have sinned against you. You reign for ever (cf. Bar 3:1-2).
Remember us in your mercy. Grant us the grace to be ashamed of what we men have done, to be ashamed of this massive idolatry, of having despised and destroyed our own flesh which you formed from the earth, to which you gave life with your own breath of life.
Never again, Lord, never again!
Adam, where are you?
Here we are, Lord, shamed by what man, created in your own image and likeness, was capable of doing.
Remember us in your mercy.
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