POPE Francis praised a pro-life event in Rome and offered comments defending the dignity of life on Sunday.
According to the website for the national Scegliamo la vita (Let’s Choose Life) event, the May 21 gathering intended to affirm the dignity of human life from conception to natural death.
The Pope greeted participants in the event after praying the Regina Caeli in St Peter’s Square in Rome.
“I thank you for your dedication in promoting life and defending conscientious objection, which there are often attempts to limit,” he said.
“Sadly,” the Pope said, “in these last years, there has been a change in the common mentality, and today we are more and more led to think that life is a good at our complete disposal, that we can choose to manipulate, to give birth or take life as we please, as if it were the exclusive consequence of individual choice.”
Pope Francis rejected that view.
“Let us remember that life is a gift from God,” he said.
“It is always sacred and inviolable, and we cannot silence the voice of conscience.”
Pope Francis’ pro-life comments came after he offered a reflection on Jesus’ words to the disciples at the Last Supper in Sunday’s Gospel reading from John, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”
He said that “no one can leave others peace if they do not have it within themselves, emphasising that the peace that Jesus is referring to comes from the Holy Spirit and is a “gift of God.”
CNA
