Pope Francis has long been scheduled to visit the former Nazi concentration camp on July 29th as part of his visit to Poland for World Youth Day, but it has only just been confirmed that he will meet ten Holocaust survivors during the visit.
The pontiff's press officer Fr Frederico Lombardi said he "will individually meet" with each of the survivors, "the last of whom will be given a candle".
One of the survivors is 101 years old and is already hosting a group of pilgrims coming for World Youth Day.
Around 1.5 million people, most of them Jews, are thought to have been murdered at the three camps in Auschwitz.
Fr Lombardi also said the Pope will celebrate a private rather than public Mass before having a personal "moment of silent pain, of compassion, of tears."
The Pope will also meet 25 people known as "Righteous Among the Nations", an Israeli civic honour bestowed to people who risked death to help Jews during the Holocaust.
The most famous example is the late Oskar Schindler, whose life story was made into an award-winning film of the same name in 1993.
Pope Francis' visit on July 29th also marks the 75th anniversary of the condemnation of St Maximilian Kolbe to death at Auschwitz.
The Polish friar offered to take the place of a stranger in a concentration camp, but both men ended up dying.
Pope Francis will be in Poland from July 27th-31st for World Youth Day, where he will also be taking public Mass, celebrating and encouraging young people from around the world.
