Free will - why God allows evil

When I heard the Holy Father saying, "Why Lord did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?" when he visited the concentration camps in Germany, my first thoughts were why God's Vicar on earth should say this.

However, I remembered an incident about 50 years ago when a young boy (near my home in England) was knocked over and killed by a speeding motor car. The child's mother was distraught and asked our parish priest, an Anglican: "If there is a God, why did he allow this to happen?".

The priest, being a wise man, gave her the answer: "Because God is so just". God could have prevented this by stopping the car, by moving the child, or preventing both parties being at the same spot at the same time. God gave man free will, and it is up to man to use this for good or evil. Can we imagine if God prevented all accidents and/or evil in the world, what chaos this would cause? It would go against God's decision and laws to give man free will. Using this God-given gift is up to us. God would be going against His just ways and taking away the most precious gift He has given us. God is good, it is man that is evil.

The Holy Father's remarks show that he is human and he showed this by his human response to the evil done by man.