Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez has called on all people of good will to step forward to protect the unborn, the most defenseless among us.
If we do not protect “the right to life for our weakest and most vulnerable brothers and sisters, we can never fully guarantee any other human rights,” Archbishop Gomez said in an interview with Exaudi Catholic News published Thursday. “Thus, the right to life is the foundation of every right.”
While abortion is not easy to talk about, the archbishop said, “we cannot stay silent when so many unborn lives are being cast aside through abortion.”
In his interview, Gomez reiterated Catholic teaching that all human beings are equally precious and sacred, including those not yet born.
“We need to speak for every person in our society who cannot defend themselves,” he said. “And prenatal human life is truly the most innocent and the most vulnerable in our society.”
“We also need to keep working to build a society that sees new human life is not a burden but a beautiful gift,” he added. “That means helping women in crisis pregnancies, promoting adoption and foster care, and supporting children and strengthening marriages and families. All of this is what it means to build a culture of life.”
Americans also need to rediscover their faith in God, he suggested, since recognition of a common Fatherhood helps people to see each other as brothers and sisters.
Unless we believe that we have a Father in heaven, the archbishop said, “there is no necessary reason for us to treat one another as brothers and sisters here on earth.”
“Without belief in a God who creates the human person in his image, we lose the basis for all the noble principles and goals that we have in our society,” he continued. “We have no solid foundation for our commitments to human dignity, freedom, equality, and fraternity.”
“In our political life in America, we should also be united by a common commitment to the sacred purposes of our country — to be one nation under God, dedicated to the truth that all men and women are created equal,” he said, “that every person has God-given rights, and that we are made to live in freedom and truth.”
“So we are praying for unity and peace in our country, and a new spirit of true patriotism,” he said.