A series of recent pro-life and pro-marriage events show that Europe is
reacting against the 'culture of death,' said Bishop Juan Antonio Reig
Pla of Alcala de Henares in Spain.
“Something is changing in Europe,” the bishop said in an article published in the Alpha and Omega Catholic weekly.
He pointed to events including the recent March for Life in Paris and
defense of marriage demonstrations reportedly drawing more than 1
million participants, as well as the European Court of Justice's ruling
banning stem cell patents when human embryos are destroyed.
He also noted the 2012 Council of Europe resolution against euthanasia
and the “One of Us” campaign, a European citizens’ initiative that
gained more than 1.8 million signatures to protect human life from
conception.
These victories show that “people are beginning to react against the crushing culture of death,” he said.
“It is curious that with serious studies and demonstrations in the
streets, secular France is now continuously voicing its desire to defend
the dignity of human life and to respect marriage between one man and
one woman as a basic institution for the common good,” Bishop Reig Pla
observed.
“The plural and inter-religious character of those who attend the
demonstrations or raise their voices in books and writings” is striking,
he added.
The bishop drew encouragement from the various rulings and initiatives,
which he described as “an expression of a clear set-back for the culture
of death.”
He urged continued work to promote life and marriage with the “light that dissipates the darkness of the culture of death.”
“If we win other difficult battles, we ought to win this battle as well. Our children and mothers deserve it.”
Stressing the importance of fighting abortion, Bishop Reig Pla pointed to the abolition of slavery as a comparison.
“It’s not possible to settle for abolishing slavery 'a little bit,'” he
said. “It needs to be ended. The same thing happens with abortion.”
“The future is not going to come through the deaths of children but
through the promotion of women and motherhood, through a greater
presence of fathers and their responsibility,” the bishop emphasized.
“The future comes through the hands of married couples who joyfully live
out faithful love and joyful openness to the gift of motherhood and
fatherhood.”