Peruvian abortion law prompts call for prayer, fasting

Lima, Peru, Aug 6, 2014 / 13:08 pm

Archbishop Jose Antonio Eguren of Piura and Tumbes in Peru is calling on the faithful to pray and fast, asking God for the reversal of the nation's new law allowing some abortions.

In a letter sent Aug. 5, Archbishop Eguren repeated his condemnation of a new protocol on abortion enacted on June 27 by the administration of President Ollanta Humala. He warned that it is "the first norm on abortion in our country" that has "dangerously opened the doors to State-sanctioned abortion on demand."

In response, he said, greater recourse "to the power of prayer and fasting" is needed, that Christ will grant us the grace "to see this norm that is intrinsically and gravelly immoral overturned."

"For this reason and after prudent discernment, I have decided to ask that on each first Friday of the month, we hold a Day of Prayer and Fasting in our communities. The Blessed Sacrament should be solemnly exposed in all of our parishes and oratories and in our personal and communal prayer, we should commend to the Sacred Heart of Jesus the unborn children, their mothers and our leaders," the archbishop said.

"Let us ask for the unborn the gift of a healthy birth, for their mothers the realization of the great gift of motherhood and that they be delivered from all evil, and for our leaders the wisdom to understand that choosing life means ensuring the future of our country," he stressed.

He added that the faithful should "not forget to make amends on this day to the Sacred Heart of Jesus which has been wounded by this norm on abortion that attacks the dignity of the human person."

Archbishop Eguren also suggested that Mass and the Rosary be said for these intentions.

"Let us not forget that prayer and fasting are two invincible weapons that Jesus has placed in our hands and that He himself practiced and recommended. The teaching of Jesus encourages us on this journey: 'Whatever you ask the Father in my name, He will grant'."