Bishop of Queretaro inaugurates first Shrine for Life in Mexico

Queretaro, Mexico, Mar 27, 2009 / 11:41 am

Bishop Mario de Gasperin Gasperin celebrated a special Mass on Wednesday inaugurating the first Shine for Life in Mexico. The shrine is dedicated to promoting the defense of life from conception to natural death.

“What is conceived is the same thing as what is born, a child,” stated Bishop Gasperin in his homily.  

Today, human life is threatened by “so many aggressions and is minimized and distorted,” he said, calling for a return to imitating the heart of Mary.

He also warned, “You cannot pretend to protect the social edifice while precisely undermining its foundations: the family and life.  The only problem is that God is disappearing from the human horizon.”

For this reason, he continued, life must be protected, “the life of the unborn, the life of the pregnant woman, the life of the newborn, the life of the weak and the infirm, the life of the elderly, and even the life of the criminal, just as God protected the life of the murderer Cain.

“We Catholics,” the bishop pointed out, “are a people of life and for life.  That is our vocation and our pride. How bitter is the irony, as the Pope said in Angola, of those who promote abortion as a way of attending to the health of mothers.”  “When the strength that comes from God is lacking, the mind of man becomes obscure, clouded, his will goes astray and he becomes perverted, causing ruin and destruction,” the bishop warned.

“This temple, this shrine of life, is intended to be a place where life is honored, respected and defended with gratitude; where tears can be shed over a life that was frustrated or lost, and where mercy, forgiveness and peace can be experienced; it is intended to be a song to life, a light that ignites hope in a full life for all…life shall triumph,” the bishop said.

At the shrine, which is part of the Church of St. Clare, prayers will be said for the unborn each day at 6:30 p.m. local time.