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Illustration: Prolife March in Rome 2019
Pope Francis’ message to the participants in the pilgrimage of the Pro-Life Movement
(delivered by the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin)
[March 8, 2025]
“ Continue to give your support to women”
Dear Sisters and Brothers of the Pro-Life Movement!
I thank you for your remembrance in prayer. Thank you very much!
I greet you all, in particular the President, Mrs. Marina Casini, and the members of the Board.
I know the value of the service you render to the Church and to society.
Together with concrete solidarity, lived in the style of closeness and closeness to mothers in difficulty because of a difficult or unexpected pregnancy, you promote the culture of life in the broadest sense. And you try to do so with frankness, love and tenacity, keeping truth closely linked to charity towards all.
You are guided in this by the examples and teachings of Carlo Casini, who had made service to life the center of his lay apostolate and his political commitment.
The occasion that brought you together in Rome is important.
It is the fiftieth anniversary of the Pro-Life Movement,
the first sprout of which was the Center for Aid to Life born in Florence in 1975.
Since then, throughout Italy, the Centers of Help for Life have multiplied.
And to these were added the Reception Houses, the SOS Vita services, the Gemma Project and the Cradles for Life.
Countless initiatives have been undertaken to promote the culture of hospitality and human rights at all levels of society.
Therefore I encourage you to carry forward the social protection of motherhood and the acceptance of human life at every stage.
In this half century, while some ideological prejudices have diminished and sensitivity to the care of creation has grown among young people, unfortunately the throwaway culture has spread.
Therefore, there is still a need more than ever for people of all ages who spend themselves concretely in the service of human life, especially when it is most fragile and vulnerable;
1. because it is sacred, created by God for a great and beautiful destiny; and
2.because a just society is not built by eliminating unwanted unborn children, the elderly who are no longer autonomous or the incurably ill.
Dear sisters and brothers, you have come from many parts of Italy to renew once again your “yes” to the civilization of love, aware that freeing women from the conditioning that pushes them not to give birth to their child is a principle of renewal of civil society.
It is clear to all, in fact, how society today is structured on the categories of possessing, doing, producing, appearing.
Your commitment, in harmony with that of the whole Church, indicates a different kind of planning, which places the dignity of the person at the center and privileges those who are weaker.
The conceived child represents, par excellence, every man and woman who does not count, who has no voice.
To stand on his side means to show solidarity with all the discarded people of the world.
And the gaze of the heart that recognizes him or her as one of us is the lever that moves this planning.
Continue to give your support to women, to their capacity for acceptance, generosity and courage.
Women must be able to count on the support of the entire civil and ecclesial community,
and the Centers of Aid for Life can become a point of reference for everyone.
I thank you for the pages of hope and tenderness that you help to write in the book of history and that remain indelible: they bear and will bear so much fruit.
May the Lord bless you and the Blessed Virgin watch over you.
I entrust each one of you, your groups and your commitment to the intercession of Saint Teresa of Calcutta, spiritual president of the Pro-Life Movements in the world.
And don’t forget to pray for me. Thank you.
Pope Francis’ message came from Rome’s, Policlinico Gemelli, 5 March 2025
