Pope Benedict Commends Pro-Life Group for Helping Women, Families

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Nov 16, 2005   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Pope Benedict Commends Pro-Life Group for Helping Women, Families Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 16, 2005

Rome, Italy (LifeNews.com) — Pope Benedict XVI commended a pro-life group for not just opposing abortion but working to help women and families. He said the members of the For Life Movement were writing “pages of hope” for the future of humanity.

Speaking to about 60 members of the pro-life group in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly public audience, the Pope praised the group’s defense of the human person "from conception to natural death."

However, he singled out the group’s work to build support systems for women who are considering an abortion.

"Working to prevent voluntary abortion, while offering support for women and families, you contribute to write pages of hope for the future of humanity," the pope said.

Pope Benedict XVI also saluted the "courageous activities" of the worldwide pro-life movement.

The pope publicly thanked them for "the 30 years of your courageous activity dedicated to defending the right to life and the dignity of each human person, from conception to natural death."

The Vatican and the Italian Bishops’ Conference have denounced the recent experimental use of the "abortion pill" RU 486 in the country, in medical trials in the Piedmont and Tuscany regions.

Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano condemned the trials as "the avant-garde of the negation of the value of life."

The group of mostly young adults were in Rome for a convention and were among the 22,000 people who gathered to meet with the Pope despite cloudy sky and the threat of rain.