Ashdod honors Pope John XXIII

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The Ashdod municipality has responded positively to an initiative of an international foundation named for Raoul Wallenberg to commemorate the memory of Pope John XXIII (Angelo Roncali).

Marking the fiftieth year since the death of Pope John XXIII, the city of Ashdod has responded positively to an initiative to name a street or a public site after a man responsible for saving Jews during the Shoah. As a sign of gratitude for this, representatives of the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation came together with envoys of the Vatican to the office of the deputy mayor, Mr. Boris Gitterman in order to invite him together with the mayor, Dr Yehiel Lasri, to the compound of the Vatican in Rome in order to receive a medal for the city of Ashdod from the hands of Pope Francis.

Few in Israel know the name of Angelo Roncalli or the story of this clergyman who became Pope and changed the relationship between Catholics and Jews. Between the years 1940 to 1944, Roncalli served as Apostolic Delegate of the Pope at that time, Pius XII. In this function, Roncalli worked tirelessly and beyond all expectations for the good of a great number of Jewish refugees, especially those who were in transit in Turkey and he facilitated their journey onwards to Palestine. Roncalli’s door was always open to the representatives of the Jewish settlement in Palestine, and in particular to Haim Barlas, who asked him to intervene in favor of the victims of the Nazis.

Roncalli acted thus with the Slovak government in order to prevent the deportation of Jewish children and also with the Bulgarian King Boris II (trans. Should be Boris III), asking to prevent the handing over of the Jews of Bulgaria to the Nazis. He also permitted the transfer of documents through the diplomatic mail from the Jewish Agency to his colleague in Budapest, Cardinal Angelo Rotta, in order that they be transferred to Jewish activists in the Hungarian capital, including documents that offered protection to Jews in their journey to Palestine. Above all, Roncalli served as a voice for Jewish distress, addressing himself often to his colleagues in the Vatican, persuading them to help Jews throughout occupied Europe.

The Wallenberg Foundation, together with its representative in Israel, “Argentina House in Israel – the Holy Land” and the “International Committee in the name of Angelo Roncalli”, founded by the Foundation, submitted a thick document to Yad VaShem in February 2011, with many testimonies regarding the activity of Roncalli in favor of saving Jews in the Shoah, with the recommendation to recognize him as a Righteous among the Nations.

In 1947, in his position as Vatican Ambassador in Paris, Roncalli acceded to the request of Dr. Moshe Sneh, one of the leaders of the Jewish settlement, to persuade the Vatican not to pressure the countries of Latin America in the vote on the UN resolution 181 (the Partition Plan). Roncalli carried out this task and thus paved the way for the establishment of the State of Israel.

As Pope, John XXIII changed the world. He convened the Second Vatican Council, which changed the face of Catholicism, emphasizing ecumenism. He worked ceaselessly to bring together Catholics and Jews and in a very important move he ordered the abolition of the word “perfidious”, insulting to Jews, from the Good Friday prayer.

The International Foundation in the name of Raoul Wallenberg is a non-governmental organization whose aim is to research and spread the heritage of Raoul Wallenberg and others who saved Jews. Among its members are people from a wide variety of national and religious origins including over 300 heads of state and a number of Nobel prize winners are among its members.

One of the first members was the Argentinian cardinal Jorge Mario Bergolgio who was elected Pope Francis not so long ago. In his former job, as archbishop of the city of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio/Pope Francis was responsible for preserving a memorial wall that had been erected on the initiative of the Wallenberg Foundation together with his predecessor, Cardinal Antonio Quarracino to commemorate the victims of the Shoah and the attacks in Buenos Aires against the Israeli Embassy and the Jewish community center.

The chairman of the Wallenberg Foundation, Mr. Eduardo Eurnakian expressed his satisfaction, saying: “Ashdod, the fifth biggest city in the State of Israel, will honor Angelo Roncalli, a man who did so much for others… I hope many other cities in Israel and throughout the world will act accordingly and consecrate streets, government buildings and public spaces to the memory of Angelo Roncalli, humanist and rescuer”.