The bishop of Orihuela-Alicante, Spain, José Ignacio Munilla, joined the 40 Days for Life campaign Nov. 2 in front of an abortion facility to pray for an end to abortion.
His actions were significant because Spain passed a law in April that can construe praying in front of an abortion clinic as a form of harassment punishable by fines.
Munilla shared a photograph on Twitter showing himself with other volunteers from 40 Days for Life.
“On this day of #TodosLosFielesDifuntos (All the Faithful Departed) I participated in the 40 Days for Life campaign, praying before an abortion center in Alicante,” the prelate wrote.
“If abortion is progressivism, then the law of the jungle is the height of democracy!” he added.
En este día de #TodosLosFielesDifuntos he participado en la campaña de 40 Días Por La Vida, orando ante un abortorio en Alicante.
¡Si el aborto es progresismo, entonces la ley de la selva es la cumbre de la democracia!#SiAlaVidapic.twitter.com/8vjuqoW8jD
40 Days for Life is a prayer and fasting campaign to end abortion that began in the United States in 2004 and has spread throughout the world.
There are two 40-day campaigns held each year, one in the spring and one in the fall. Volunteers take time slots praying in front of clinics where abortions are performed or in significant places in the cities that join the campaign.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Russian Orthodox leader Metropolitan Hilarion speaks at the International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 6, 2021. / Screenshot from 52nd International Eucharistic Congress YouTube channel.
Pope Francis meets with ecumenical delegation from Finland on Jan. 17, 2022. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jan 17, 2022 / 05:30 am (CNA).
In an ecumenical meeting with a Lutheran delegation on Monday, Pope Francis pointed to the upcoming 1700th… […]
Pope Francis speaking at the general audience on St. Peter’s Square, Nov. 9, 2022 / Daniel Ibáñez / CNA
Rome Newsroom, Nov 9, 2022 / 03:34 am (CNA).
Pope Francis said Wednesday his trip to the Gulf kingdom of Bahrain was a new step on the journey to create “fraternal alliances” between Christians and Muslims.
The pope spoke about his Nov. 3-6 visit to Bahrain, a small, overwhelmingly Muslim country in the Persian Gulf, during his weekly public audience in St. Peter’s Square Nov. 9.
“The journey to Bahrain should not be seen as an isolated episode,” he said. “It was part of a process initiated by Saint John Paul II when he went to Morocco.”
This is why, he continued, “the first visit of a pope in Bahrain represents a new step on the journey between Christian and Muslim believers — not to confuse things or water down the faith, but to create fraternal alliances in the name of our Father Abraham, who was a pilgrim on earth under the merciful gaze of the one God of Heaven, the God of peace.”
“And why do I say that dialogue does not water down [the faith]?” Francis said. “Because to dialogue you have to have your own identity, you have to start from your identity. If you do not have identity, you cannot dialogue, because you do not understand what you are either.”
The Papal Swiss Guard at St. Peter’s Square, Nov. 9, 2022. Daniel Ibáñez / CNA
The motto of Pope Francis’ visit to Bahrain was “Peace on earth to people of goodwill.” The trip included encounters with government officials, Muslim leaders, and the small Catholic community, including a Mass with around 30,000 people in Bahrain’s national soccer stadium.
The small Christian minority in Bahrain is mostly made up of immigrants, especially from India and the Philippines.
More than 70% of the total population — 1.5 million — is Muslim, while there are only about 161,000 Catholics living in the country, according to 2020 Vatican statistics.
Pope Francis said Wednesday it was “marvelous” to see the many Christian immigrants in Bahrain.
“The brothers and sisters in the faith, whom I met in Bahrain, truly live ‘on a journey,’” he said. “For the most part, they are immigrant laborers who, far from home, discover their roots in the People of God and their family within the larger family of the Church. And they move ahead joyfully, in the certainty that the hope of God does not disappoint.”
The pope pointed out that the Kingdom of Bahrain is an archipelago of 33 islands, which “helps us understand that it is not necessary to live by isolating ourselves, but by coming closer” — something which aids peace.
He said “dialogue is the ‘oxygen of peace,’” not only in a nation but also in a family: Dialogue can help bring peace to a husband and wife who are fighting, for example.
Throughout his visit to Bahrain, Francis said, he heard several times the desire to increase encounters and strengthen the relationship between Christians and Muslims in the country.
He recalled a custom in that part of the world to place one’s hand on the heart when greeting another person. “I did this too,” he said, “to make room inside me for the person I was meeting.”
“For without this welcome, dialogue remains empty, illusory, it remains on the level of an idea rather than reality,” he said.
Francis encouraged Catholics to have “open hearts,” not closed, hard hearts, and said he would like to transmit the “genuine, simple, and beautiful joy” of the Christian priests, religious, and lay people he met in Bahrain.
“Meeting each other and praying together, we felt we were of one heart and one soul,” he said.
At the beginning of the general audience, Pope Francis drew attention to two “courageous” children who had approached the platform where he was sitting.
These children “didn’t ask permission, they didn’t say, ‘Ah, I’m afraid’ — they came directly,” he said. “They gave us an example of how we are to be with God, with the Lord: go for it.”
“He is always waiting for us,” he continued. “It did me good to see the trust of these two children: it was an example for all of us. This is how we must always approach the Lord: with freedom.”
Leave a Reply