Pope Benedict XVI marked the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II on Sunday by saying religion should promote peace and fight racism and totalitarianism, the Associated Press reports.

The German-born pontiff, who was forced to serve in the Hitler Youth Corps and later the army before he deserted near the end of the war, said the memory of the war should serve as a warning to never repeat such a "barbarity" as the Holocaust and the extermination of millions of innocents, the AP reports.

"The contribution that religion can and must make is particularly important in promoting forgiveness and reconciliation against violence, racism, totalitarianism and extremism, which defile the image of the Creator in man," he said in Viterbo, Italy, during his traditional Sunday blessing.

Read the Associated Press story.

Associated Press photograph