20 April 2025 – Vatican City. Pope Francis gives the Urbis et Orbi blessing from St Peter’s Basilica balcony on Easter Sunday..Following the blessing the Pope greeted the crowds on St Peter’s square from the Popemobile. Photograph: IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire
On the death of Pope Francis, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, paid tribute in Berlin:
“Auschwitz survivors around the world are bidding farewell to Pope Francis with great sadness, affection and appreciation. For the survivors of Auschwitz, Francis was a man in whom they placed great trust, particularly because he insisted on holding up a mirror to an often indifferent and unjust world. His invitations and appeals to all people to shape a world where fear of strangers, anti-Semitism and racial hatred no longer have a place, touched the survivors deeply.
They too regarded this Pope’s words and stance as a compass for humanity and human dignity, encouraging them to continue on their path of remembrance and enlightenment. The survivors of Auschwitz express their deep gratitude to this Pope, their brother Francis.”