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Pope Francis to pray at former Auschwitz-Birkenau camp Pope Francis prays in silence at former Auschwitz-Birkenau camp
(35 minutes later)
Pope Francis is due to pray at the former death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau in what was Nazi-occupied Poland. The Pope has offered a private prayer at the former Auschwitz death camp.
He will walk in silence around the concentration and extermination camp where 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were killed during World War Two. He walked alone and in silence around the concentration and extermination camp where 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were killed during World War Two in Nazi-occupied Poland.
On the third day of his visit to Poland, the pontiff will also meet camp survivors and Poles who risked their lives to hide Jews from the Nazis. Pope Francis also met elderly survivors of the camp, kissing them on the cheeks and speaking to them softly.
He is in the country to mark 1,050 years since it adopted Christianity. He is on his third day of a visit marking 1,050 years since Poland's adoption of Christianity.
Francis will be the third Pope to walk through the main gate of Auschwitz, under its infamous inscription "Arbeit Macht Frei" - work sets you free. Francis has become the third Pope to walk through the main gate of Auschwitz, under its infamous inscription "Arbeit Macht Frei" - work sets you free.
But unlike his German and Polish predecessors, he does not plan to speak about the horrors that occurred there, Adam Easton in Poland reports. But unlike his German and Polish predecessors, he is not speaking about the horrors that occurred there, says the BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw.
Instead he will pray and walk in silent contemplation as he looks at the piles of children's shoes and the hair shorn from camp inmates. Francis passed under the gates alone, wearing white robes and skullcap. After meeting the survivors, he placed a candle at the Death Wall, where prisoners were executed by the Nazis, before continuing on his own.
The Pope stopped to pray at the prison cell of Maximilian Kolbe, a beatified Polish Catholic friar who sacrificed his life to save that of another man.
He knelt for many minutes in the underground cell, illuminated only by the light from a tiny window, the Associated Press news agency reports.
The Argentine Pope is on a five-day trip to Poland.The Argentine Pope is on a five-day trip to Poland.
During a World Youth Day rally in the southern city of Krakow on Thursday, he urged compassion for migrants.During a World Youth Day rally in the southern city of Krakow on Thursday, he urged compassion for migrants.
He told hundreds of thousands of people that "a merciful heart opens up to welcome refugees and migrants" - a statement that puts him at odds with Poland's anti-immigrant right-wing government.He told hundreds of thousands of people that "a merciful heart opens up to welcome refugees and migrants" - a statement that puts him at odds with Poland's anti-immigrant right-wing government.