Pope Leo appealed against the global rise of antisemitism on Wednesday, marking the annual commemoration of the Holocaust during his weekly audience at the Vatican 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," said the pope.

Leo, the first American pope, called on 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.

Previously, the pope denounced antisemitism at a weekly audience in October as well as at a ceremony the day before commemorating the Nostra aetate. Promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1965, the declaration marked a change in Catholic relations with Jews and the view on antisemitism.

During the October audience, Pope Leo described the goal of the Nostra aetate as bringing back “the original relationship” between Christianity and the Jewish people.

“This historic document, therefore, opened our eyes to a simple yet profound principle: dialogue is not a tactic or a tool, but a way of life — a journey of the heart that transforms everyone involved, the one who listens and the one who speaks,” he said at the ceremony.

“What is more, we walk this journey not by abandoning our own faith, but by standing firmly within it. For authentic dialogue begins not in compromise, but in conviction — in the deep roots of our own belief that give us the strength to reach out to others in love.”

“Since then, all my predecessors have condemned antisemitism with clear words,” said the Pope. “And so I too confirm that the Church does not tolerate antisemitism and fights against it on the basis of the Gospel itself.”