OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) — The 26th National March for Life is set to take place this Thursday as Canadians of all ages gather to celebrate life in every stage.
The National March for Life, organized by the pro-life organization Campaign Life Coalition, will attract Canadians from around the country to rally and march for the unborn beginning on Parliament Hill.
“We stand firm for the pre-born, mothers in crisis pregnancies, those targeted due to disability, and the elderly in hospitals and care homes,” Campaign Life Coalition pledged. “We march in solidarity with the vulnerable and marginalized.”
Sponsors for the event include LifeSiteNews, EWTN, 40 Days for Life, and the Knights of Columbus.
The events surrounding the March for Life begin at 7 p.m. EDT Monday, May 8 with a Songs for Life Coffee House at St. Theresa’s Parish in Ottawa, sponsored by NET Ministries.
The president of the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV) has described assisted suicide as sometimes being the “greatest common good concretely possible” contrary to the Catholic Church’s strenuous condemnation of the practice.
This betrayal of the Catholic faith by Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia is not for the first time, with the PAV repeatedly causing scandal under his watch by:
- recently appointing a notorious pro-abortion atheist to the organization
- claiming contraception and artificial insemination are sometimes acceptable
- insisting that priests could accompany people through assisted-suicide, and
- that Italy’s pro-abortion law is a “pillar” of the country’s social life.
SIGN: Pope Francis must remove Abp. Paglia from the Pontifical Academy for Life
“Personally, I would not practice suicide assistance,” Archbishop Paglia told an Italian journalism conference last week, “but I understand that legal mediation may be the greatest common good concretely possible under the conditions we find ourselves in.”
Accepting an anti-life Italian court ruling that specified when assisted-suicide is permitted, the archbishop claimed “it is not to be ruled out that in our society a legal mediation is feasible that would allow assistance to suicide under the conditions specified by Constitutional Court Sentence 242/2019…”
From the outset of his presentation in Perugia, Paglia also undermined the authority of the Catholic Church on matters of faith and morals, stating: “First of all, I would like to clarify that the Catholic Church is not that it has a ready-made, prepackaged package of truths, as if it were a dispenser of truth pills.”
SIGN: Abp. Paglia must be removed from the Pontifical Academy for Life
The PAV issued a statement on Monday trying to clarify the archbishop’s remarks, insisting that Paglia “reiterates his ‘no’ towards euthanasia and assisted suicide, in full adherence to the Magisterium”.
However, far from denouncing Paglia’s words, the PAV unsurprisingly supported its president. Referencing the Italian court ruling which partially decriminalized euthanasia by outlining exceptions to its illegality, the PAV stated it was in the context of this ruling that Paglia had made his comments.
In this precise and specific context, Msgr. Paglia explained that in his opinion a ‘legal mediation’ (certainly not a moral one) in the direction indicated by the Sentence is possible, maintaining the crime and the conditions under which it is decriminalized, as the same Constitutional Court has asked Parliament to legislate.
The PAV’s fudging of the issue was met with consternation from several Catholic commentators, with liturgist Matthew Hazell, who had highlighted Paglia’s original comments, asking “How hard is it for the @PontAcadLife to just say ‘sorry’ for scandalising the faithful? Indeed, how hard is it to actually adhere to the teaching of the Church on life issues? Are you so incapable of reading the signs of the times & interpreting them in the light of the Gospel?”
The Pontifical Academy for Life has tried & failed to explain @monspaglia‘s remarks. Paglia had spoken about the “accompaniment” needed for the dying, saying “in this context, it is not to be ruled out that in our society a legal mediation is feasible …” https://t.co/C3LU601aA2
— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) April 24, 2023
Sorry guys, not good enough. Nowhere near good enough.
Archbishop Paglia’s “opinion” on the possibility of “juridical mediation” regarding euthanasia is still contrary to the Catholic faith, as has been explained already. https://t.co/qMATq0UZrL pic.twitter.com/W8s4zLvkj7— Matthew Hazell (@M_P_Hazell) April 24, 2023
Archbishop Paglia’s comments about assisted suicide being “feasible” are wrong and harmful. It’s the kind of “crack in the wall” that opponents of human life will run with to promote their agenda. The teaching of the Church is clear: Euthanasia is “morally unacceptable.” Period.
— Bishop Thomas Tobin (@ThomasJTobin1) April 24, 2023
SIGN: Abp. Paglia’s presidency of the Pontifical Academy for Life is untenable
It’s vital that the Church and PAV push back against the culture of death, rather than trying to accommodate it and accept a world that where the vulnerable are helped to kill themselves.
Be part of pushing back against the tide and making it clear that there is no room for confusion or betrayal when it comes to the sanctity of human life and the infallibilty of Catholic teaching on the matter.
SIGN AND SHARE THE PETITION WITH FRIENDS & FAMILY
MORE INFORMATION:
Abp. Paglia defends assisted-suicide as ‘greatest common good possible’ for dying people – LifeSiteNews
On Tuesday at 7 p.m. EDT, there will be an in-person early preview of “Roe Canada: The True North in a Post-Roe World” and a roundtable discussion hosted by Dunn Media.
On Wednesday, Bishop Yvan Mathieu, S.M., auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall, will celebrate Mass at 7:30 p.m. EDT at St. Theresa Church, followed by a candlelight procession to the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights monument.
On Thursday morning before the March, there will be various Masses and prayer services before the rally on Parliament Hill, including a Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral offered by Archbishop Marcel Damphousse of the Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall. A list of Masses and prayer services can be found here.
The Rally and March for Life will occur on Parliament Hill from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., with the March through downtown Ottawa beginning at 1:30 p.m. After the March, there will be Silent No More awareness presentations beginning at 2:30 p.m. on the Hill. The rally will end with a closing prayer service led by the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute.
Evening events include the annual Rose Dinner and the Youth Banquet, both of which will take place at 6 p.m. at the Ottawa Conference and Events Centre.
The Rose Dinner will include the opportunity to meet prominent Canadian and U.S. pro-life leaders, Campaign Life Coalition staff, and Dr. Calum Miller, MD, a research associate at the University of Oxford who will deliver a keynote speech.
On Friday, young Canadians will gather for the Youth Summit, sponsored by Niagara Region Right to Life, that will include talks by Autumn Higashi from Students for Life of America and Dr. Miller.
The theme for the March this year is “stand firm,” taken from Ephesians 6:14, which reads,
“Stand firm therefore, having belted your waist with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.”
For more information regarding the March for Life and events surrounding it, visit marchforlife.ca.