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More than 3,000 parishioners, religious leaders and elected officials gathered at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels Tuesday evening for an ecumenical prayer service commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Long Beach Press-Telegram reports.

The service, hosted by Archbishop Jose Gomez of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese, came just two days after Pope Francis called the massacre by Ottoman Turks “the first genocide of the 20th century.” “Today, we declare in unison that we remember and on Sunday people around the world remembered and spoke of the genocide of Armenians,” said Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian of the Armenian Apostolic Church. “No matter how many years pass we will not forget and we will not let the world forget our just cause. We will continue to be the voice of our martyrs.”

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 Orthodox 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.

“The orphans and the survivors of the genocide are our heroes,” Derderian said, referring to a commemorative booklet containing photos and accounts of those who survived the massacres between 1915 and 1923. “In their eyes we see the martyrdom and the resurrection of our nation as well.”

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

“This space here in this city is a territory that is neutral where we can put down divisions and speak the truth that a genocide occurred, that 1.5 million souls were erased from this earth,” Garcetti said. “We have a responsibility to make sure that everyone on this earth recognizes that.”

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.