Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan met today (Monday) with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. During the meeting, the two spoke about the enduring importance of Holocaust remembrance and research, including its significance for the Catholic world.
Among the topics discussed were potential collaborations between the Vatican and Yad Vashem in the fields of Holocaust commemoration, documentation, and education, particularly in addressing Holocaust distortion and rising antisemitism. Dayan emphasized the importance of documentation from the Vatican archives for advancing Holocaust research and expanding knowledge about Jews who perished or survived. At the end of the meeting, he invited the Pope to visit Yad Vashem.
Today's meeting follows Chairman Dayan’s visit to the Vatican in 2022, during which he met with the Pope’s predecessor, Pope Francis. The previous three Popes all visited Yad Vashem, most recently Pope Francis in 2014, reflecting the Roman Catholic Church's connection to Holocaust remembrance and the Jewish people.
“The meeting was warm and highly constructive. His Holiness underscored the importance he places on preserving the memory of the Holocaust and reaffirmed his commitment to advancing our shared goals,” Chairman Dayan said following the meeting. “We also addressed the alarming rise in antisemitism worldwide and the urgent need for coordinated, decisive action to confront it.”
He added that Yad Vashem stands ready to work together with the Church in this mission by sharing its professional expertise and institutional knowledge.
Chairman Dayan presented the Pope with a reproduction of the artwork “Where Art Thou?” by the painter Carol Deutsch, who was murdered in the Holocaust. The work is part of a series of 99 pieces depicting stories and figures from the Bible, created by Deutsch in 1941 in Antwerp for his young daughter.
This specific piece was chosen as a tribute to Pope Francis, who in his 2014 speech at Yad Vashem quoted the biblical passage that inspired the title of the artwork. A passage from that speech is inscribed on the gift.