BUENOS AIRES, Thursday, 16th.of November 2006 (ZENIT.org.).- This Thursday, in the city of Buenos Aires, Father Horacio Fidel Moreno, died at the age of 88 . He was a precursor in promoting the interconfessional dialogue in Latin America. He was born in the city of Quilmes on the 29th of May, 1918. Amongst many other activities, he was president of the Casa Argentina en Israel, Tierra Santa (Argentine House in Israel, Holy Land), during the last 16 years.
Baruj Tenembaum, founder of the Raoul Wallenberg International Foundation, educational ONG created in Argentina, pointed out stressed that ”Father Moreno’s death leaves us without one of the most honorable men and an authentic representative of the interconfessional dialogue.”
Due to health reasons, last September, Father Moreno could not travel to Rome, together with a delegation of members of the IRWF, to greet Pope Benedict XVI, as well as to present the Raoul Wallenberg Award 2006 to the Zenit Agency.
His successor in the presidency of the Wallenberg Foundation is Oscar Vicente.
The Wallenberg Foundation is evaluating the possibility of setting up soon, the prize ”Father Horacio Moreno” for the analysis and investigation of the present situation of the interconfessional relations on an international level.
Father Moreno was a Doctor in Law and Social Science in the University of Buenos Aires, had a Master’s Degree in Philosophy and in Social Law, a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Theology, granted by the Catholic Institute of Paris, and a Master’s Degree in Social Law of La Sorbonne. He received various prizes for his papers on Metaphysics, Theodicy, Ethics, Scripture and Canonical Law.
He participated in the foundation of various institutes, foundations, homes and other institutions.
Whilst he was president of the Argentine House in Israel, entity founded in 1966 he backed up the first trip of an Argentine Primate Archbishop to Israel, Cardinal Antonio Quarracino who travelled in 1992.
He took part in 1997, in the inauguration of the first mural in the world, commemorating the victims of the Holocaust, of the AMIA and the Israeli Embassy, which was installed inside the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral.
Likewise, he created, together with Baruch Tenembaum, the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, an educational, Non Governmental Organization that promotes the values of solidarity and civic courage, cornerstones of the behaviour of the Saviours of the Holocaust.
Ha also participated in the creation of the International Angelo Roncalli Committee, an organizationt that pays tribute to the heroic actions of the person who would become John XXIII, the Good Pope, and which saved so many lives during the Holocaust.
Translation: María Pensavalle
