Pope Francis Daily

Pope Francis has called for the eradication of anti-Semitism following an increase in attacks and hate crimes against Jews in several countries, and said it was vital to preserve the memory of the Holocaust.

In the worst attack ever against U.S. Jews, a gunman yelling “all Jews must die” stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue on Oct. 27, killing 11 worshippers and wounding six other people, including four police officers, before he was arrested.

We are called to commit ourselves to ensure anti-Semitism is banned from the human community,” Francis said, during a meeting with rabbis from the World Congress of Mountain Jews.

Mountain Jews are the descendants of Jews who left ancient Persia and settled in the Caucasus.

Francis said the Holocaust, in which the Nazis murdered six million Jews around Europe during the Second World War, must continue to be commemorated to keep its memory alive.

“Without a living memory, there will be no future, for if the darkest pages of history do not teach us to avoid the same errors, human dignity will remain a dead letter,” he said.