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Pope prays for Holocaust victims

He prayed for the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto at the Umschlagplatz, the site from which some 400,000 Jews were deported to Nazi death camps.

Poland's chief rabbi, Menachem Joskowicz, used the opportunity to ask the Pope to remove a huge crucifix erected outside the Auschwitz Nazi death camp, after 300 smaller crosses were uprooted by authorities last month.

He thanked the pontiff for the removal of the smaller crosses, but asked him to order the removal of a large crucifix erected during a papal trip in 1979 as well.

Many Jews see the presence of presence of religious symbols near the site of the camp as a provocation.

The Pope's spokesman, Joaquin Navarro, said the crucifix issue was "a local question" which "does not concern the Vatican".

Alongside representatives of Poland's Jewish community, he spoke at length with the last known survivor of the February 1943 Warsaw Ghetto insurrection, Marek Edelman.

Historic speech

Earlier, the Pope was given a standing ovation when he made the first address by a modern pontiff to the Polish parliament.

He thanked God for the changes in Poland and called for urgent action to prevent new conflicts in Europe.

He also gave his support to Poland's efforts to join the European Union, but stressed that all political and economic development should be based on ethical principles and spirituality.

The Pope's audience included legislators, judges, religious leaders - and the former Communist leader, General Jaruzelski, who imposed martial law in Poland in 1981.

As anticipated by the authorities, the Polish capital, Warsaw, was flooded by hundreds of thousands of people hoping to see the Pope, who is on a marathon 13-day trip to his homeland.

It is the longest visit the Pope has ever made to a single country and, given his age, it is expected to be his last to Poland.

The Pontiff has drawn huge crowds throughout, and up to half a million worshippers are expected to cram into Warsaw's Pilsudski square when the Pope celebrates mass there on Sunday.

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