More than 3,000 parishioners, religious leaders and elected officials gathered at the Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels, in Los Angeles, USA, for an ecumenical prayer service commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, reported Pasadena Star-News.

The service, hosted by Archbishop Jose Gomez of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese, was attended also by Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian of the Armenian Apostolic Church and several other Armenian clergy members.  

Leaders of Armenian and other Christian denominations prayed at the altar in memory of the victims, whom clergy members referred to as “martyrs” throughout the service.

During the service, Archbishop Hovnan Derderian of the Armenian Apostolic Church shared the story of a 7-year-old orphaned girl who marched through the Syrian Desert in the spring of 1915 and witnessed the deaths of Armenian people.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti delivered the keynote address at the service, echoing the Pope Francis’ recent call that all people must acknowledge the massacres as genocide.

Garcetti went on to equate the slaughter of Armenians to that of Jewish men and women during World War II, saying that, unlike Turkey, Germany and its people have accepted and owned up to the “horrors” of the Holocaust.

“It is a genocide and in Los Angeles we accept that,” he said.