The Catholic Church in Mexico has joined the Bishops of the United States in a campaign of prayer and fasting for an end to abortion.
As Catholics, “we can fast and keep this intention in our prayers, so that the justices have the strength and courage to officially reverse the ruling that has claimed the lives of millions of innocents,” the archbishop of Mexico City, Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, said Monday in reference to the leaked draft of the Supreme Court majority decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Last week, Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities issued a “call to prayer” for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that made abortion the law of the land.
“The leak related to the U.S. Supreme Court case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization reminds us of the urgent need for prayer and action at this pivotal moment in our country,” Archbishop Lori said in his May 4 statement.
“As Catholics, we care about every unborn child and every mother. Our Church has consistently witnessed in word and deed that life begins at the moment of conception,” he said.
As we await the Court’s decision, “we urge everyone to intensify their prayer and fasting that the final decision of the Court will bring about the reversal of Roe and Casey,” Lori said. “We hope and pray for a change in our laws and stand ready to help all pregnant women in need in each of our communities.”
In his own statement Monday, Cardinal Aguiar Retes said that if the decision in the leaked draft holds, the ruling will become “a turning point in the history of humanity,” since after Roe, abortion has been promoted as “a right that must be recognized by all countries.”
“But now it would be unmasked for what it is: an ideological agenda that has been imposed on laws and culture,” the archbishop said. “The precedent at the international level will mean that abortion does not have to be considered a right.”
A pro-choice demonstrator (R) attacks a pro-life group member (L) from Christ Forgiveness Ministries with a bike lock outside the State House during a Pro-Choice Mother’s Day Rally in Boston, Massachusetts on May 8, 2022. (JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty)
The cardinal also recalled that the issue of the protection of unborn human life is about to be discussed again by the Mexican Supreme Court as well, and a new legal precedent from the U.S., “a country that has always exalted its respect for freedom,” could influence Mexican jurisprudence as well.
“Recognizing the right to life of the human being from conception cannot violate the rights of women,” he said. On the contrary, “it strengthens protection for all life in the legal structure and in the cultural context, especially at this time in our country in which the lives of young girls have been tragically cut short for various reasons.”