ROME, NOV. 6, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The Chief Rabbi of Rome has accepted the invitation to become an honorary member of the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, joining the ranks of heads of state and Nobel Prize laureates.
Riccardo Di Segni’s move came amid the context of a visit of a delegation of the Wallenberg Foundation to the Vatican to award a prize to ZENIT.
Members of the honorary commission include Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, primate of Argentina; Rene Samuel Sirat, Grand Rabbi of the European Sephardic Community; and John Nash, recipient of the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
The Wallenberg delegation, headed by its initiator, Baruj Tenembaum, greeted Benedict XVI on Sept. 27. On that occasion, the Pope was presented the ”Father Alfonso Durán” education program.
”Father Durán, with his numerous tasks as priest, writer, historian, teacher and poet, fostered courageous actions to remove anti-Semitism and racial prejudices,” explained the foundation in a statement. The priest worked in the Santa Fe province in Argentina.
The statement added: ”The priest’s work was characterized by his spirit of justice and Christian charity, with which he illuminated all the actions of his life, putting into practice the values of solidarity and civic courage promoted by the Wallenberg Foundation.”
