Philosophical-Theological University of Bressanone in Italy. / Credit: Ladislav Luppa / Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Pro Vita & Famiglia (Pro Life & Family) headquarters in Rome was vandalized June 10, 2023. / Credit: Pro Vita & Famiglia
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Members of an Italian pro-life and pro-family organization marched in the “Demonstration for Life” May 20, 2023, with a banner saying “There’s life in the mother’s womb. Let’s care for it. #stopabortion” / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, May 20, 2023 / 12:48 pm (CNA).
Thousands of individuals, families, and young people braved the cool, rainy weather to march in Italy’s national “Demonstration for Life” in Rome on Saturday afternoon.
The walk May 20 started at Rome’s Piazza della Repubblica, close to the central Termini train station, and slowly wound its way past the Basilica of St. Mary Major, down the thoroughfare of Merulana Street, to the square in front of the Basilica of St. John Lateran. The route was about 1.2 miles.
Formerly called the “March for Life,” the name was changed last year when new leadership took over the event.
The president of the organizing group, Massimo Gandolfini, told EWTN News earlier this month that the demonstration is not associated with a specific political party.
“We do politics with a capital ‘P’,” the neurosurgeon and adoptive father of seven said. “That is, defense of life, defense of the natural family, defense of the educational freedom of parents. This is our politics…”
He said the goals of the organization include establishing a national day for unborn life and a government fund to help pregnant women in difficulty. They also hope to cultivate more recognition of the beauty of motherhood in the culture.
Gandolfini added that the organizers are opposed to the legalization in Italy of euthanasia, assisted suicide, and surrogacy.
“We are strongly opposed to all of these because first of all there is the right of the child,” he said.
The event concluded with speakers and a rally outside the Basilica of St. John Lateran.
Pope Francis at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square on May 17, 2023. / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, May 18, 2023 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis offered his condolences Thursday after at least nine people died in devastating floods in northeastern Italy.
The pope sent a condolence telegram to Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, the archbishop of Bologna, on May 18 after intense rainfall across the Italian region of Emilia Romagna caused severe flooding and landslides.
Thousands have been evacuated from the worst-hit areas, which include Ravenna, a city famous for its Catholic churches’ sixth-century Byzantine mosaics.
Images from the towns of Faenza and Cesena show cars almost entirely submerged in muddy water. Rescue workers used helicopters and dinghies to help people escape from flooded buildings.
According to local officials, some parts of the region received nearly 20 inches of rain in 36 hours. The heavy rains caused 23 rivers across the region to burst their banks and 120 landslides.
Situazione drammatica in #EmiliaRomagna. Pesante alluvione.
Sarà allerta rossa anche domani. Nel frattempo le immagini che arrivano dalla Romagna fanno paura.
In questo video il salvataggio di una mamma con la sua bimba di tre anni a Cesena.#16maggio | #AllertaMeteoER pic.twitter.com/d9GKeRhxki
— Giovanni Cristiano (@Jo_Reporter) May 16, 2023
Catholic bishops in Emilia-Romagna have called for the region to remain united in the face of the emergency and committed to doing everything necessary to collaborate with relief efforts to aid those in need. Zuppi has asked for priests to notify Caritas of emergency situations that need to be addressed.
The telegram sent on the pope’s behalf by Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the Substitute (Sostituto) of the Vatican Secretariat of State, said: “While assuring fervent prayers of repose for the deceased and expressing condolences to their families, the Supreme Pontiff invokes from God comfort for the wounded and consolation for those suffering consequences from the grave calamity.”
“Pope Francis thanks all those who in these hours of particular difficulty are working to bring relief and alleviate all suffering, as well as the diocesan communities for their expressions of communion and fraternal closeness to the most afflicted populations. The Supreme Pontiff sends apostolic blessing to all as a sign of his spiritual closeness.”
Pope Francis shared a stage with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on May 12, 2023, to speak at a two-day conference on “The General State of the Birth Rate,” held at Conciliazione Auditorium close to the Vatican. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, May 12, 2023 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis said Friday a society’s birth rate is a key indicator of the hope people have in the future.
The pope shared the stage on May 12 with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during a two-day conference on “The General State of the Birth Rate,” held at Conciliazione Auditorium close to the Vatican.
“The birth of children, in fact, is the main indicator for measuring the hope of a people,” Pope Francis said. “If few are born it means there is little hope. And this not only has repercussions from an economic and social point of view but also undermines confidence in the future.”
“The General State of the Birth Rate” is a conference for Italian political, business, and organization leaders to reflect on Italy’s demographic crisis, caused by one of the lowest birth rates in Europe: 1.25 births per woman.
The event was organized by the Foundation for Births and the Family Associations Forum and supported by the Italian Ministry for Family, Birth, and Equal Opportunity.
This was the third annual conference and the second time Pope Francis attended. In 2022, he sent a message to be read at the event.
Italy hit a historic low number of births in 2022, with only about 393,000 children born in the country.
The same year, the country saw 700,000 deaths, marking a dangerous decline in population.
The low number of births, Pope Francis said, “is a figure that reveals a great concern for tomorrow.”
He lamented that childbearing and rearing is seen as the burden of families only, and the pressure this puts on young adults today, “who grow up in uncertainty, if not disillusionment and fear.”
Young people “experience a social climate in which starting a family has turned into a titanic effort, instead of being a shared value that everyone recognizes and supports,” he said.
The decline in communal living, together with an increasing self-reliance creates loneliness, Pope Francis said, and one consequence is that only the wealthy have the freedom to live the life they want.
“This is unfair, as well as demeaning,” he added.
The pope also criticized a culture that places pets before human children.
He said at a recent audience, he went to greet a woman of around 50 years old — “like me,” he joked — but was surprised to be asked to bless her dog, which she called, “my baby.”
“I had no patience and scolded the lady,” he said, pointing out the great number of hungry children in the world.
Pope Francis used a walker to move on stage on Friday, referencing the pain he experiences while standing.
At the beginning of his speech, the pope said: “I’m sorry for not standing up while speaking, but I cannot tolerate the pain when I am standing.”
In what appeared to be a reference not only to welcoming the birth of children but also to welcoming migrants, Pope Francis said “a happy community naturally develops desires to generate and integrate, to welcome, while an unhappy society is reduced to a sum of individuals trying to defend what they have at all costs.”
He emphasized again that “the birth rate challenge is a matter of hope,” though, he underlined, hope is not the same as optimism or “a vague positive feeling about the future.”
Hope, he said, “is not an illusion or an emotion that you feel, no; it is a concrete virtue, a life attitude. And it has to do with concrete choices. Hope is nourished by each person’s commitment to the good, it grows when we feel we are participating and involved in making meaning of our own and others’ lives.”
“Hope generates change and improves the future. It is the smallest of virtues — Péguy said — it is the smallest, but it is the one that takes you the furthest. And hope does not disappoint,” Francis said.
Elisabeth Ohlsen. / Credit: E. Ohlson
Washington D.C., May 4, 2023 / 15:30 pm (CNA).
An art exhibit at the European Union’s Parliament building in Brussels, Belgium, has prompted criticism from conservative politicians in Italy for its display … […]
An Italian paper published what are supposed to be last week’s remarks of Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia on assisted suicide, with specific reference to the debate in Italy. Archbishop Paglia is president of the Pontifical Academy […]
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