For pregnant women in Cuba, Project Hope offers alterative to abortion

Mexico City, Mexico, Mar 9, 2020 / 11:53 am (CNA).- A Mexico City march organized for International Women’s Day turned violent Sunday, when some demonstrators vandalized public structures and monuments, Church buildings, and businesses amid the march.

Considerable violence took place outside the city’s cathedral, where some feminist demonstrators, many of whom wore masks, threw paint and flammable liquids at the church. A group of Catholics had gathered outside the cathedral to safeguard it during the demonstration, and a contingent of female police officers was assigned to the site. Both fell under attack.

Violentas feministas atacan a los que defienden la Catedral de México y a las pocas agentes policiales que la defienden #8M #MujeresPorLaPaz #TodaVidaVale #UnDiaPorTodas #MujerEsVida pic.twitter.com/FNxl8lvylN

— David Ramos (@YoDash) March 8, 2020

Some media reports mentioned counter-protesters making Nazi salutes outside the cathedral. Three such persons were observed by journalists from ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, all of whom apparently left the site once the melee began. Those counter-protesters did not appear to be affiliated with the cathedral parishioners outside the church. 

Demonstrators also threw Molotov cocktails at Mexico’s National Palace, the country’s official presidential residence, leaving some at the demonstration with burns and other injuries, smashed car windshields, and burnt the doors of some buildings.

Así dejaron las violentas feministas un vehículo de los bomberos @Bomberos_CDMX, a pocos metros de la Catedral de México y sin que las autoridades hagan algo #8M #DiaDeLaMujer #DiaInternacionaldelasMujeres pic.twitter.com/zKHLspLo4y

— David Ramos (@YoDash) March 8, 2020

Official government numbers said 80,000 people participated in the march. Demonstrators said the march was intended to address the problem of femicide in the country, although protestors also mentioned support for abortion rights among reasons for the demonstrations, and many wore the green bandanas that symbolize “abortion rights” support in Mexico.

#Viral| ?? En la cobertura de la marcha feminista, la fotógrafa de El Universal, Berenice Fregoso, resultó lesionada por una bomba molotov.

Fue traslada al hospital con quemaduras de segundo grado.

Más información. ⬇https://t.co/Oxp1Qj1BhY pic.twitter.com/7ZBNdhNyfx

— EL UNIVERSAL Qro (@universalqro) March 9, 2020

Some pro-life groups distributed signs and posted banners describing abortion as femicide, though demonstrators could be seen tearing them down and setting them on fire.

Churches and public buildings were also vandalized in other Mexican city by feminist groups and demonstrators. By Monday, March 9th, serious damage was reported to Catholic churches in Xalapa, Campeche and Hermosillo.

In Hermosillo, Catholics attending Mass were attacked by a group of masked marchers, The Massgoers barricaded themselves inside the church by pushing pews against the main door, in order to prevent the group from damaging the interior of the cathedral.

After the violence unfolded, an Archdiocese of Mexico spokesman told ACI Prensa that “I think it is important to say that the crisis of values ​​and violence against women is an issue that should unite us to work together in search of the gift of peace. Acting divided and in confrontation will only thwart efforts to stop violence.”

The Mexican bishops’ conference had expressed support for March 9 demonstrations across the country, which had mostly been organized by groups calling for expanded legal protection for abortion in Mexico. The conference has not yet issued a statement on Sunday’s violence.

A version of this story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language news partner.

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Lima, Peru, Jun 30, 2017 / 05:05 pm (CNA).- An Argentine diocesan official has clarified that the local archbishop did not deny a sacramental Catholic wedding to Argentinian soccer player Lionel “Leo” Messi and his girlfriend, Antonella Roc… […]

Santiago, Chile, Apr 3, 2017 / 02:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Fighting the scourge of discrimination that often accompanies HIV, the Santa Clara Foundation in Santiago de Chile has worked since 1994 to ensure that children with the virus experience God’s love and have a better quality of life.

“When you see a child it’s very easy to see the face of Christ in him,” said Sister Nora Valencia of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Jesus, director of the home since 2008. “The child just by himself inspires a lot of tenderness, inspires you to protect him, to love him.”

It is a face “with hope, because we’re…working so that the children live, and live well,” she told CNA.

The children at the home suffer from HIV – or human immunodeficiency virus. Despite common misconceptions, not all people with HIV will go on to develop AIDS – or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, Sister Nora stressed.

Therefore, she clarified, it is incorrect to say that the children at their home have AIDS. “We are always making every effort so they don’t develop AIDS” and if they ever do develop it, that it remains under control.

While there is no cure for HIV, there are treatments that can help “make the lives of these children normal” and slow the progression of the disease, greatly increasing life expectancies, she explained.

The Santa Clara Home is currently caring for 60 families and has three levels of care. The internal system offers care for up to 17 children living at the facility. The intermediate system offers follow up care, as well as psychological and sociological evaluations, for children living at home. The external system offers workshops and food baskets for families who need them.

Thanks to a system of sponsors and volunteers, five legal adoptions of children with HIV have taken place since 2008.

Sister Nora said that working with these children, “your maternal instinct develops 200 percent” and “if the Lord sent him here, it’s so we first instill love and then all the rest.”

She hopes that the children “will be happy” and “tomorrow when they reach adulthood they won’t have to lie about their illness.” She further has hope that society may “accept them the way they are and give them the opportunity that at times wasn’t given to their parents. That no one be discriminated against because of ignorance.”

The Santa Clara Home obtained their own plot of land in Santiago after submitting a project to the Regional Government. They now must raise funds for the construction of a house designed for the children, since the place they are in currently is a former Franciscan convent from 1870 which will likely not withstand another earthquake like the one that occurred in 2010.

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