“There is no demographic revival without the truth about abortion”
– Jacopo Coghe, President, Provitaefamiglia
Some 40,000 people paraded joyfully in the streets of Rome on the 20th of May for this year’s annual March For Life (Scegliamo la Vita).
Their goal: to promote a new culture and rally support for life and the family, especially the most fragile: the unborn, the disabled, the elderly, and mothers with difficult pregnancies.
Braving the cool and wet weather, marchers from several countries joined pro-life Italians and families with children, religious sisters, seminarians and priests, and countless young people to bear witness to the sanctity of life.
The enthusiastic crowd marched two kilometers (1.2 miles), beginning at Rome’s Piazza della Repubblica, passing the papal basilica of St. Mary Major, and ending at the Piazza of the Papal Basilica of St. John Lateran. Marchers cheerfully sang, played music, and prayed the rosary along the way.
Italy today faces a demographic crisis of unparalleled proportions. The number of deaths has exceeded that of newborns for at least five years. In a country whose birth rate is at an all-time record low – having fallen below 400,000 annual births according to official estimates – the sight of thousands of people marching for life truly brings hope and demonstrates that Italian society solidly supports life and defends it in all its stages. To witness was inspiring and persuasive.
During his powerful speech, march organizer Massimo Gandolfini reaffirmed that Italians do not support abortion, euthanasia, abortifacient drugs, or surrogacy.
Abortion advocates have declared the opposite, of course, but supporters of life have demanded the incentives, resources, and policies necessary to promote and support families:
- Encourage and reward children and motherhood.
- Promote the harmony of work and family.
- Continue the fight against drugs and addictions.
- Support the disabled and their families.
- Combat inhuman practices like the “womb for rent” industry and proposals advocating assisted suicide for the elderly, frail, or disabled.
- Focus on strengthening health care and increasing the availability of palliative care.
President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies Lorenzo Fontana and Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), both wrote encouraging letters of support that were read at the March.
In his letter, Cardinal Zuppi wrote:
Life is always beautiful when it is loved… This is why we say no to the culture of death, which begins with indifference, with the belief that desires are rights. We say yes to the culture of life, starting with that of the little ones and the last, the rejected and the unaccepted. This is the challenge that awaits us.
In attendance and advocating the event were 120 organizations and associations from all over Italy. In his remarks, Jacopo Coghe, a pro-life champion in Italy and spokesperson for Pro Vita & Famiglia, reinforced the fact that “no demographic revival will ever be possible if we continue to keep silent about the truth about abortion, which is the suppression of a life, a harmless and innocent human being in the womb.”
Coghe insisted that only a convinced pro-life culture will save the destiny of Italy. Economic, social, and cultural measures that protect maternity and paternity are indispensable. Only in this way can we reverse the damage from Law 194, which introduced abortion in Italy and is responsible for preventing the birth of some 6 million unborn children.
Coghe strongly defended fatherhood as well as motherhood, fundamental social values in promoting the common good. With strong families he said, we will have a fighting chance in the battle to reverse the widespread individualistic and anti-natalist culture.
Event organizer Maria Rachele Ruiu encouraged people to “get married, have children, look after everyone, especially the most fragile, from the smallest child in the womb. Always help the mother and father who fear having children in an uncertain future. Reach out to the victims of practices like the “rented uterus” that make life a mere commodity,” she said.
Ruiu called on the crowd to reject what Pope Francis has called the “throwaway culture,” whose victims are always the most fragile and vulnerable in society. She strongly proclaimed that “if Italy wants to start again, it can only do it from here: the State has the task of supporting policies that reward a higher birth rate, one baby at a time.”
While “Demonstration for Life,” which organized the event, is not affiliated with any political party, Ruiu firmly asserted that the “defense of life, defense of the natural family, defense of the educational freedom of parents [lies in their] politics.”
The March, attended by thousands, offered a heartening contrast to the “Wish for a Baby” fair, an event held in Milan the same day, where surrogacy, IVF, and medically-assisted procreation were featured.
In her speech, Ruiu called these procedures the “slavery of the third millennium.” To counteract it, she implored the thousands of pro-life participants in the piazza that day in Rome to bear a strong witness and “restart the whole of society and truly protect everyone” by investing in family and life!
