Pope Francis used an audience this week to denounce a “new rebirth” of antisemitism in Italy and beyond.

Speaking in Rome at a general audience, when the pontiff addresses crowds in St Peter’s Square, said hatred of Jews was raging after the world thought the Holocaust’s “brutalities” were over.

According to AP, he said: “Here and there, there is a new rebirth of persecuting Jews. Brothers and sisters, this isn’t human or Christian. Jews are our brothers.

“And they must not be persecuted. Understand?”

There was widespread fury in Italy last week after it emerged an Italian Holocaust survivor had been given police protection after receiving threats from far-right fanatics.

Liliana Segre, 89, a senator-for-life who last month called for a parliamentary investigation into racism and antisemitism, was assigned a police escort after receiving daily abuse on social media.

Italian far-right and nationalist parties abstained on a vote called by her to establish a formal commission to investigate hate and antisemitism in the country.

The commission was nonetheless approved with the support of other parties.

Ms Segre was among the 776 Italian children deported to Auschwitz in 1944. Just 25 survived.

She has dedicated her time in recent years to visiting schools to recount the story of the Holocaust.

Researchers say there were 190 antisemitic incidents in Italy in the first ten months of this year, compared to 197 for the whole of 2018 and 130 in 2017.