Speaking at his first weekly public audience at the Vatican since June, the pope reflected on his visit to the notorious Nazi concentration camp near Krakow where more than a million people, mostly Jews, died during World War II.

He said his decision to remain silent while visiting and praying inside the camp was "more eloquent than any spoken word could have been.

"I felt the presence of all the souls who passed through that place," the pope told a large crowd inside a Vatican audience hall.

"I felt the compassion, the mercy of God, which a few holy souls were able to bring into that abyss. In that great silence, I prayed for all the victims of violence and war."

Francis also said he realized the importance of remembering past events and ensuring "the seed of hatred and violence not be allowed to take root in the furrows of history."

Francis visited the camp last week while he was in Poland for World Youth Day and had emotional encounters with 10 camp survivors, whom he embraced.

Around 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were murdered at the complex of death camps near the Polish city of Oswiecim, near Krakow, during World War II.

Today the main sites, Auschwitz and Birkenau, showcase the horror of the Nazi genocide and draw visitors from around the world. Read more

Fr Hermann Scheipers, who died on June 2 in Ochtrup, Germany, lived for more than 70 years after surviving a Nazi death march.

He spent more than four years at Dachau after being arrested in 1940, reportedly for supporting Polish forced labourers.

"Here, you are defenceless, without dignity or rights," Fr Scheipers recalled being told on arriving at the Nazi camp.

The priest was one of around 2800 clergy sent to Dachau during World War II.

More than 1000 priests died at Dachau.

Of 200,000 prisoners at the camp, more than 41,500 were killed.

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