Francis is scheduled to visit the camp in Poland on July 29.

During World War II, 1.1 million people were killed by the Nazis at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Francis is in Poland from July 27-31, primarily for the World Youth Day celebrations.

On the papal plane flying back from Armenia last month, the Pope spoke about his planned visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

"I would like to go to that place of horror without speeches, without crowds - only the few people necessary," he said.

"Alone, enter, pray. And may the Lord give me the grace to cry."

The Pope noted he had once visited a World War I memorial in Italy and had not spoken.

Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, the Vatican's press spokesman, confirmed on June 30 that the official programme for the Auschwitz-Birkenau visit had been changed.

Fr Lombardi said the Pope would not give a speech at the death camp.

The Vatican's schedule for the Pope's originally had him giving a speech at the international monument at Birkenau.

Francis's predecessors St John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI delivered speeches there.

Fr Lombardi noted that Francis had previously spoken about the horror of the Holocaust.

Pope Francis visited the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem in Israel in 2014.

He met six survivors of Nazi camps, kissing their hands in a sign of deference and recognition of their suffering.

Speaking of the atrocity of the Holocaust, Francis asked how could human beings have sunk so horribly low?

In his speech at Yad Vashem, he prayed: "Grant us the grace to be ashamed of what we men have done, to be ashamed of this massive idolatry, of having despised and destroyed our own flesh which you formed from the earth, to which you gave life with your own breath of life."

"Never again, Lord, never again!"

Sources

• The Tablet
• Catholic Herald
• Image: Yad Vashem blog

On Friday, Francis gave a thunderous speech after accepting the prestigious German Charlemagne Prize, which is for "services of Western European understanding and work for the community".

The Pontiff criticised a "resignation and weariness that do not belong to the soul of Europe".

He asked of Europe three times "What has happened to you"?

Echoing the famous "I have a dream" speech by US civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Francis offered his vision of Europe.

"I dream of a Europe where being a migrant is not a crime but a summons to greater commitment on behalf of the dignity of every human being," Francis said.

"I dream of a Europe that promotes and protects the rights of everyone, without neglecting its duties towards all," he continued later.

"I dream of a Europe of which it will not be said that its commitment to human rights was its last utopia."

The Pope said this at a ceremony attended by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

In his speech, Pope Francis urged Europeans to undergo a "memory transfusion", citing a phrase by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, to remember Europe's fractured past when confronting issues that threaten again to divide it.

The Pope urged the birth of a "new humanism" based on capacities to integrate, dialogue, and generate.

He strongly condemned current calls for uniformity, or arguing against integration of new ideas or peoples.

He also said youth unemployment was sapping the continent of its dynamism, and he called for new economic models that are "more inclusive and equitable".

Francis urged European leaders to reject calls for re-nationalisation, to remember the devastating history that preceded their unification, and to "build bridges and tear down walls" in the face of the continuing migrant crisis.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Associated Press
• Zenit (Text of the Pope's address)
• Image: Zenit

Archbishop Denis Hart intervened to cancel a planned keynote speech by MP Cathy McGowan at a Catholic Social Services Victoria conference this month.

The reason given was that her views are contrary to Church teachings.

Ms McGowan, who describes herself as a practising Catholic, co-sponsored a "marriage equality" bill in Australia's Parliament last year.

Her planned speech was not on marriage, but on the importance of giving the underprivileged and marginalised a voice and access to those in power.

The speech at the conference is called "The Mary MacKillop Oration".

Ms McGowan said the decision to revoke her invitation was "very sad" and seemed at odds with Pope Francis's view the Church's doors should be open to discussing issues.

"Mary MacKillop was known for her support of regional and rural communities, she's a woman, she got in trouble with the bishops, they called her insubordinate and stopped her speaking, so this decision now with me is really ironic, I reckon," Ms McGowan said.

A spokesman for Melbourne archdiocese said there is no malice in Archbishop Hart's decision and he did not want to embarrass Ms McGowan.

"But he would see with a conference such as this that the keynote speaker should be in line with Catholic teaching on that very important topic," the spokesman said.

Ms McGowan has been replaced as the conference keynote speaker by barrister Julian McMahon, the 2016 Victorian of the year.

Catholic Social Services Victoria executive director Denis Fitzgerald said Ms McGowan had been invited to give the oration due to her work supporting marginalised groups, including refugees and asylum seekers.

Asked why the invitation was revoked so close to the event, he said Archbishop Hart "probably hadn't turned his attention to it" until recently.​

"It would have been better had Catholic Social Services factored in all relevant issues before we invited Cathy," he said.

Sources

• Sydney Morning Herald
• Image: News.com.au

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation, suggested such criticism could be seen as akin to "physical violence" against the Roman Pontiff.

This carries a penalty of excommunication.

But US canon lawyer Ed Peters said provisions in canon law must be interpreted narrowly and physical violence means what it says - physical violence.

While hateful speech is objectively sinful, it is not a canonical crime punishable by excommunication, the canonist said.

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