Vatican News
A film published by the Vatican shows Yad Vashem director Dani Dayan and Israel’s Ambassador to the Holy See, Yaron Sideman, during an audience with the Pope. Leo XIV, like his predecessors, condemned antisemitism. On the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2026, he said during a general audience: “On this annual day of painful remembrance, I ask the Almighty for the gift of a world without antisemitism, without prejudice, oppression, and persecution against any human being.”
Yad Vashem is the official Israeli authority for the remembrance of Holocaust victims, serving as a key center for research into the history of the Shoah. The institution focuses on systematically collecting testimonies and archiving millions of documents, creating the world’s most extensive knowledge base on the fate of the Jewish people during World War II.
Yad Vashem’s activities also include an educational center that creates educational programs and combats manifestations of antisemitism. A significant pillar of the institute’s work is conducting research processes aimed at honoring the Righteous Among the Nations. The institution bestows this title upon those who risked their lives to save Jews.
To date, three popes have visited Yad Vashem during their trips to the Holy Land: John Paul II (2000), Benedict XVI (2009), and Francis (2014). All three participated in commemorative ceremonies in the Hall of Remembrance, met with survivors, and paid tribute to the victims of the Holocaust. The Hall of Remembrance displays the names of 22 Nazi concentration and extermination camps, which became places of martyrdom for millions of people. At the center of the hall burns the Eternal Flame, and in front of it is a crypt with the ashes of victims brought from the places of torment. It is there that heads of state pay tribute to the murdered, laying wreaths and participating in moments of silence.
