VATICAN CITY, JUNE 21, 2004 (Zenit.org).- Cardinal Renato Martino presided at a Mass in Rome in memory of a Portuguese consul who saved the lives of thousands of people, including 10,000 Jews, during World War II.

During his homily Thursday, the cardinal-president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace said it was men such as Aristides de Sousa Mendes who, during the dark years of the war, helped to save ”humanity’s honor.”

”Because of this we want to thank the Lord, who is able to inspire good even in contexts marked by the horror and demonic mystery of iniquity that constantly taints relations between persons and peoples,” the cardinal added.

The Mass was celebrated in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, at the suggestion of the Raoul Wallenberg International Foundation.

As a consul in Bordeaux, France, Sousa Mendes saved individuals persecuted by the Nazi regime, giving them Portuguese visas in violation of the neutrality of his government.

Beginning June 16, 1940, Sousa Mendes openly defied his government and began granting visas non-stop to all who came to his consulate until Germany bombed Bordeaux three days later. Most notable among the applicants were several Hapsburgs, members of the Austrian imperial family.

Upon learning the news, Portuguese dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar ordered Sousa Mendes’ arrest and trial. Nevertheless, since the dictator kept the borders open, 1 million refugees were eventually able to escape using the route mapped out by Sousa Mendez through Spain.

Stripped from his position as consulate, he and his family fell into disfortune and he eventually died in poverty.

Thursday’s Mass was attended by Rabbi Mario Ablin, vice president of the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation and of the Angelo Roncalli International Committee, who brought greetings from Jerusalem.

Rabbi Ablin explained that to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Portuguese diplomat’s death, the Wallenberg Foundation is promoting the celebration of religious services in 30 churches and 28 synagogues in 28 countries.

The Wallenberg Foundation and the Roncalli Committee are dedicated to disseminating the message and remembering the deeds of individuals who risked their lives to save people persecuted during the Holocaust. Two such persons were Wallenberg and Apostolic Nuncio Angelo Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII.

At the end of the Mass, which was attended by numerous ambassadors to the Holy See, the foundation and committee announced the decision to award the Sousa Mendes 50th Anniversary Prize to Cardinal Martino.

The award is given to individuals whose personal conviction and public action reflect ethical principles, values of human solidarity and exemplary conduct.

In Argentina there were celebrations at the Israeli temple of Libertad Street, at the Talmut School, at the Mishkan temple and in the Adat community.

In New York a mass was celebrated by the representative of the Holy See to the UN, Monsignor Celestino Migliore. On that ocassion Baruch Tenembaum, creator of the foundation, expressed: ”We, Jews, must keep the balance between complain for what we have suffered and the total acknowledgement to the people who helped us”. In Rome, Cardinal Renato Martino, in Saint Mary, Trastevere, celebrated a mass. It was remembered that Sousa Mendes, who risked his life, used to say: ”I would rather be with God against men than with men against God”. In Buenos Aires, last Monday, the foundation inaugurated a website with 1,500 pages, in English and Spanish: www.raoulwallenberg.net

This year, and on June 17th, on the 50th anniversary of Sousa Mendes’ death, following an initiative by The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation (IRWF) and the Angelo Roncalli Committee, special Thanksgiving Masses and Services in Synagogues will be held around the world, from the Holy See to New York, Jerusalem, Buenos Aires, China and France, among many others.

In the New York area Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, will hold a service at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Yonkers. Following the mass there will be a cocktail reception where the names of all diplomat rescuers of WWII will be invoked. Rabbi Marc Angel of Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of New York City held a special service dedicated to the Portuguese diplomat in May. A similar service will be held at the First Hebrew Congregation of Peekskill, NY.

The world paid homage to Diplomat rescuers of the Holocaust

In the year of the 50th anniversary of Aristides de Sousa Mendes’ death (1885-1954), the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation and the Angelo Roncalli Committee organized more than 80 commemorations around the world. Dozens of religious, cultural and educational activities took place in 30 countries in the five continents. Among the many countries that joined in the acknowledgement were France, the United States, the Vatican, China and Israel.

June 17 marks the day in which the Portuguese diplomat, disobeying orders from his government, started to issue visas to rescue about 30,000 people persecuted by the Nazis, which occupied France in 1940. His courage and determination had an extraordinary impact during the next five years of the Second World War: he inspired many other diplomats and encouraged similar rescues until the end of the war.

In New York a mass dedicated to Sousa Mendes was celebrated in the church of Our Lady of Fatima, in Yonkers officiated by Monsignor Celestino Migliore, Apostolic Nuncio of the Vatican to the UN.

”This act is the proof that in life there are more important things than life itself”, pointed out Baruj Tenembaum, founder of the Wallenberg Foundation. ”We, as Jews, must keep the balance between the complaints for the suffering and the total acknowledgement of the people who helped us”, said Tenembaum.

Among the audience present, that filled the temple, it is worth mentioning the presence of Gonçalo de Santa Clara Gomes, Ambassador of Portugal to the UN; Alexandre Manuel Galvão Mexia de Almeida Fernandes, General Consul of Portugal to New York; Sheila Abranches and Aristides Mendes, Sousa Mendes’ relatives and the colorful presence of dozens of representatives of the Portuguese community in New York wearing traditional costumes. Once the service was over, a reception took place in which Ms. Abigail Tenembaum, vice-president of the Wallenberg Foundation, presented the Sousa Mendes Medal and invited Mr. Baruch Tenembaum to award John Crisostomo, distinguished Portuguese activist dedicated to promote the life and deeds of the Portuguese savior.

Crisostomo presented the projection of the documentary film ”Diplomats for the damned”, which shows the rescue actions carried out by diplomats during the Holocaust. Mr. Crisostomo read the names of prominent Diplomat Rescuers and the twenty two countries from which they came.

”History seems to compensate tyrants and criminals, because they are the heroes and protagonists in people’s minds, especially among the youngest. This situation must be counteracted with the promotion of positive examples ”, Crisostomo said. ”We must acknowledge and honor those people who dedicated their lives for the well being of others, especially those people who saved lives. Today is a good moment to start”.

The homages for the person who declared that ”he would rather be with God against men than with men against God”, remind us of how the act of only one person changed history and influenced in the conducts of many people who dared imitate him. That is why June 17 can be considered as the ”Day of Thanks and Acknowledgments” to all the diplomatic saviors of the Second World War.

In Rome, a mass was celebrated in the Basilica Saint Mary in Travestere, officiated by Cardinal Renato Martino, President of the Peace and Justice Commission of the Vatican.

In the course of the prayers, Cardinal Martino included an invocation for the peaceful coexistence of people and communities of different beliefs, races, religions as well as a declaration against anti-Semitism and racial discrimination.

Before the end of the ceremony, the special representative of the IRWF sent to Italy, Rabbi Mario Ablin, was invited by the High Vatican Prelate to address the audience. In the course of his message, Ablin announced the decision of granting the Sousa Mendes award to Cardinal Martino who showed his satisfaction by standing up due to people’s applauses.

”It is our duty to remember all Christians who, encouraged by their faith, reacted bravely offering their help to the persecuted Jews, sometimes under the risk of losing their own lives. Their blessed memory must be kept alive”, pointed out Pope John Paul II.

In Bordeaux, the city in which Sousa Mendes undertook his rescue action, the ”50 anniversary Sousa Mendes Medal” was presented to Father Bernard Jacques Riviere, due to his long and successful dedication to promote the deeds of the former Portuguese Consul.

The Wallenberg Foundation received hundreds of adhesions to the unprecedented initiative, including by the Prime Minister of Portugal, H.E. Jose Manuel Durao Barroso; US Congressman, Tom Lantos; Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Elie Wiesel; the Mayor of Yonkers, Phil Amicone and Raoul Wallenberg’s niece, Louise Von Dardel.

• See the complete list of commemorations

Correspondent Michael Freund reports that the initiative, launched by the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, is in honor of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who served as Portuguese consul in Bordeaux during World War II. Haifa Chief Rabbi She’ar Yashuv Cohen, the Chief Rabbi of Belgium, the Archbishop of Montreal, and Cardinal Renato Martino of the Vatican are among dozens of prominent religious leaders taking part.

In Israel, too, special prayers will be recited in Jerusalem, Netanya, Beit She’an, Hadera and elsewhere.

The Wallenberg Foundation, headed by Baruch Tenenbaum, chose today, June 17, to commemorate Sousa Mendes because it was on this date in 1940 that he began issuing the special visas to refugees. Despite explicit instructions from Portuguese dictator Antonio Salazar barring the entry of Jewish refugees, Sousa Mendes issued 30,000 transit permits, including some 10,000 to Jews, enabling them to escape deportation to the German death camps. As a result, Sousa Mendes was denounced and stripped of his post. He died penniless in 1954.

Yad Vashem has recognized him as a Righteous Gentile. Asked once to explain why he was willing to disobey his superiors and risk his career in order to save Jews, Sousa Mendes is reported to have replied, ”I would rather be with G-d against men, than with men against G-d.”

June 17th marks the day the Portuguese Diplomat Aristides de Sousa Mendes, following his conscience rather than orders of his government, started issuing visas to rescue 30,000 refugees in France. His decision to do so had an extraordinary impact during the next five years of WWII: it inspired and facilitated similar rescues by many other diplomats until the end of the war, and hundreds of thousands of refugees were able to escape. This year, on the 50th anniversary of Sousa Mendes’ death, following an initiative by The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation (IRWF) and the Angelo Roncalli Committee, special Thanksgiving Masses and Services in Synagogues will be held around the world, from the Holy See to New York, Jerusalem, Buenos Aires, China and France, among many others. In the New York area Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, will hold a service at Our Lady of Fatima R.C. Church (located at 355 South Broadway, Yonkers), at 7.00 pm. Following the mass there will be a coctail reception where the names of all diplomat rescuers of WWII will be invoked. A similar service will be held at the First Hebrew Congregation of Peekskill, NY.

A wealthy lawyer from an old aristocratic family, de Sousa Mendes had represented Portugal in Brazil, Zanzibar and the Unites States. Hitler’s forces had marched into Paris and a flood of humanity fled in fear from the Nazi regime. Their destination was Bordeaux where a Portuguese visa could assure them passage through Spain into Portugal, which was nominally neutral; from there they could perhaps hope to obtain a passport or visa to America. The president of Portugal, however, ordered his embassies not to issue exit visas to Russians, Portuguese political exiles and Jewish people. Thousands of refugees reached Bordeaux and sought out the Portuguese Consul General. With great compassion, de Sousa Mendes decided to disobey the Portuguese president’s order and handwrote some 30,000 visas in order to save as many refugees as possible from the Nazis. 10,000 of those refugees were Jews. He was quoted saying: ”I have to save these people, as many as I can. If I am disobeying orders I’d rather be with God against men, rather than with men against God.”

He was recalled to Lisbon in disgrace and stripped of all this diplomatic status. His licensee to practice law was taken away, and he was forced to sell all his possessions to buy food for his family. He died penniless in a house for the poor in Lisbon in 1954.

Aristides Sousa Mendes been honored by the U.S. Congress and has been restored to a place of honor and respect by the President of Portugal, Mario Soares. This year marks the 50 year anniversary of his death. The Angelo Roncalli International Committee and the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation has chosen this devout Catholic for a special recognition. San Francisco Archbishop William Levada has asked Father Agnel De Heredia, Pastor of All Souls Parish, to celebrate the Mass. Members of the faithful, especially those with roots in Portugal, the Islands of Azores, and Brazil, are invited to the liturgy.

Ambassador Gonçalo Santa Clara Gomes, the Permanent representative of Portugal to the UN mentioned Sousa Mendes’ heroic acts, and called for others to follow his example, especially in these times of turmoil in the world.

Representing the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, Abigail Tenembaum announced the various events planned for the 50th anniversary of Sousa Mendes, including Thanksgiving Masses in the Vatican, New York and several other cities on June 17th, and the special 50th Anniversary Sousa Mendes Award to be awarded to a French and to a Portuguese individual.

In an emotional moment, the grandson and granddaughter of Sousa Mendes, Aristides Mendes and Sheila Fleischacker gave the portrait to the Ambassador, who placed it next to the Portuguese flag. The portrait was made by Peter Malkin, the Mossad agent who caught Adolf Eichmann and who is now a renowned artist in New York.

Many diplomats were present, in the ceremony honoring a diplomat. These included representatives of Bulgaria, Argentina, East Timor, Brazil, Poland, France and Hungary, among others.

Dozens of letters were sent to The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation in support of this occasion, including a letter from Congressman Tom Lantos, who wrote:

”Like the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg who saved both my life and that of my wife…Mendes, guided by the ”Imperatives of his conscience”, delivered light, hope and most importantly life to thousands of individuals who would have perished in the hands of the Nazis….In celebration of the life work of a remarkable individual whose dedication to humanity overrode the threat of consequences which, in fact, did befall Mendes and his family after the war, with reverence I commemorate the 50th anniversary of Aristides de Sousa Mendes.”

Other letters were received from the Anti Defamation League, ambassadors of Israel, Sweden and Portugal and many other institutions and individuals.