Pope pays tribute to victims of Nazis, Soviets in Lithuania

Pope Francis arrives to celebrate a Holy Mass in Kaunas, Lithuania September 23, 2018. REUTERS/Max Rossi

VILNIUS (Reuters) - Pope Francis paid tribute on Sunday to Jews killed by the Nazis and victims of murder and deportation by the Soviet KGB, in twin visits to memorials marking the darkest periods of Lithuania's history.

On the 75th anniversary of the wartime liquidation of the Vilnius ghetto, Francis stopped to pray at a simple stone monument commemorating the 200,000 Lithuanian Jews killed either in the country or in Nazi concentration camps in Europe.