Pope Francis has warned about a "barbaric upsurge of anti-Semitism" alongside a general growth in hatred and populism.
Speaking to a delegation from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a global human rights organisation based in Los Angeles that researches the Holocaust and confronts anti-Semitism, hate and terrorism, Pope Francis said said he was concerned about the rise of a "selfish indifference".
He described this as the view of advocating only what is convenient for oneself: "Life is good if it is good for me and when something is wrong, anger and malice are unleashed."
Thus, fertile grounds are prepared for the particularisms and populisms, he continued. "Hatred is growing rapidly on these lands. Hatred. Sow hate. Still more recently, we have witnessed the barbaric upsurge of anti-Semitism. I am not tired of firmly condemning all forms of anti-Semitism."
He said the Holy See has in common with the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, the desire to make the world a better place with respect for human dignity, regardless of origin, religion and social status. "It is so important to educate about tolerance and mutual understanding, freedom of religion and the promotion of social peace."
He referred to Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27, which this year will mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
"There, in 2016, I stopped to internalise and to pray in silence," he said. "Today, absorbed in the vortex of things, we struggle to stop, to look inside ourselves, to make silence to listen to the cry of suffering humanity.
"Today's consumerism is also verbal: how many useless words, how much time wasted contesting and accusing, how many offences screamed, regardless of what is said. Silence, on the other hand, helps to preserve memory. If we lose our memory, we destroy the future. The anniversary of the unspeakable cruelty that humanity discovered seventy-five years ago is a call to stop us, to be silent and remember."
He called for peace to be sowed in the soil in which hatred is tilled. "It is in fact through integration, research and understanding of the other that we protect ourselves most."
And he referred to the ground breaking Vatican II declaration "Nostra aetate" that outlined how Jews and Christians have a rich common spiritual patrimony, and also addressed relations with other faiths.
The theme of this year's Holocaust Memorial Day is #StandTogether.
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