Vatican welcomes UN Holocaust Memorial Day

The United Nations' decision to adopt 27 January as Holocaust Memorial Day has been welcomed by Monsignor Celestino Migliore, the Vatican's permanent observer at the UN. "Asking for forgiveness purifies memory and remembering the Holocaust gives us an opportunity for this purification, to identify the first symptoms of a genocide to reject them and adopt adequate measures to overcome adequate measures to surpass social and international injustices of all kinds," said Mgr Migliore. "The XX century has witnessed genocides, atrocities, mass killings and ethnic cleansing that have deplorably not limited themselves to a single continent. (...) Would that the Holocaust serve as a warning not to allow ourselves to be consumed by ideologies that justify the hatred for human dignity on the basis of race, colour, language or religion," he said, noting: "After the Shoah, the first step toward prevention has been the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Many other steps are needed. In every country the memory of the Holocaust must be preserved as a commitment to avoid future generations such horror". Source: MISNA