On October 25, 2025, faithful and authorities filled the São Paulo Cathedral for an inter-religious act in memory of journalist Vladimir Herzog, killed by the military dictatorship 50 years ago. The event recreated the 1975 ecumenical mass and highlighted resistance against authoritarianism. Participants chanted 'no amnesty' and sang redemocratization anthems.
The act, organized by the Vladimir Herzog Institute and the Arns Commission, began around 7 p.m. with a performance by the Luther King Choir. Dressed in white and carrying flowers, participants observed a minute of silence in honor of dictatorship victims. Banners with photos of the dead and disappeared were raised, accompanied by shouts like 'Where are our disappeared?' and 'No amnesty', referring to those involved in the January 8, 2023 events.
Vice President Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), representing President Lula, described Herzog's death as 'the result of state extremism', which persecuted and killed citizens instead of protecting them. Questioned on revising the 1979 Amnesty Law, which forgave dictatorship crimes, Alckmin limited himself to saying: 'We have taken good steps on this issue'. Ivo Herzog, the journalist's son, called the law an 'aberration' and urged the STF to debate it, stating: 'This fight for revision is our fight, society's fight'.
Religious representatives recreated the 1975 act. Archbishop Dom Odilo Scherer of São Paulo emphasized: 'If we are here without fear of retaliation and with consolidated democratic freedoms, we owe it to those who paid a high price'. Rabbi Uri Lam highlighted Herzog as 'a symbol of truth, integrity, and resistance', and Pastor Anita Wright, daughter of Jaime Wright, read Psalm 23, noting: 'The military dictatorship made us walk through the valley of the shadow of death'.
On October 25, 1975, Herzog, TV Cultura director and linked to the PCB, voluntarily presented himself at the DOI-Codi, where he was tortured to death. The regime claimed suicide, but exams revealed torture bruises. Seven days later, over 8,000 people filled the Sé for a mass led by Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns, Rabbi Henry Sobel, and Pastor Jaime Wright, a landmark of resistance. The 2025 event sang 'The Drunk and the Tightrope Walker' by Aldir Blanc and João Bosco, and 'Chalice' by Chico Buarque and Milton Nascimento, reinforcing the alert against persistent authoritarianism.
