Pope Leo calls for end to antisemitism worldwide

Pope Leo called on Wednesday for an end to antisemitism worldwide, marking the annual commemoration of the Holocaust with a prayer for a world without prejudice or racism.

"On this annual occasion of painful remembrance, I ask the Almighty for the gift of a world with no more antisemitism and, with no more prejudice, oppression, or persecution of any human being," the pope said during his weekly audience at the Vatican.

Leo, the first U.S. pope, appealed to world leaders "to always remain vigilant, so that the horror of genocide may never again fall upon any people".

International Holocaust Remembrance Day, an annual commemoration established by the United Nations, was marked on Tuesday.

Relations between the Catholic Church and Judaism have improved in recent decades, after centuries of animosity.

Leo, like his predecessor Pope Francis, has condemned antisemitism several times since becoming the leader of the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church last May.