Mexico City, Mexico, Mar 22, 2017 / 05:01 am
Some 30,000 people gathered last Sunday for the 17th March for Life, Peace and Migrants in Tijuana, Mexico.
Led by the Archbishop of Tijuana, Francisco Moreno Barrón, participants marched from the former bullfighting stadium, Toreo de Tijuana, to the Tijuana Auditorium, where they arrived at 11:30 am.
Before the march on March 19, the Archbishop of Tijuana prayed for the migrants and young people depicted on the wall at Aeropuerto y Cuauhtémoc Norte Boulevard. "We want to make present on this wall all our brother migrants, not just those who cross this border, but all the migrants from all over the world," the prelate said.
"The entire human community is one family, which came forth from the hands of God out of love. And we are called to live united in love as one family," he added.
The archbishop said that "unfortunately because of selfishness in the world, the selfishness in the human heart, walls have been raised up, not just in past times, but also in the present, which seek to divide us, alienate us and also at times to confront us."
Instead of walls, he said, what is needed are "spaces, elements, bridges which would rather bring us closer together and help us build fraternity, so that we can live in peace and realize in our midst God's dream for his children: that they live united and in peace."
The State Government Religious Affairs officer, Marco Antonio González, representing the Government Undersecretary, said that "the importance of this march for us is the fact that the Catholic Church is proclaiming, supporting the need we have as a community to promote values and principles."
The march started around 9:00 am and began with adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. During the march, Archbishop Moreno carried a cross as a symbol of the crosses that migrants carry.
"I invite you to remain united as a Church, making our contribution to building a better society in the Archdiocese of Tijuana, I invite you to be builders of peace, to fight for life and to have an open heart to our migrant brothers," the prelate exhorted.
After the march, the archbishop celebrated a Mass in the Tijuana Auditorium.