For This Country, Huge Prolife Rally Went Down as "The Most Popular Event" in its History

Diogo Ximenes : Mar 30, 2015
LifeSiteNews

Currently, abortion is recognized as a crime in Peru.

(Lima, Peru)—On Saturday, March 21, an estimated half a million people expressed their opposition to all forms of abortion and affirmed their support for the right to the natural family and the life of unborn children in the most popular event in the history of Peru. (Photo via LifeSiteNews)

The March for Life, held in Lima, now joins the March for Life in Washington, DC, held since 1974, as among the largest pro-life demonstrations in the Americas.

The popular support for this third edition of the March for Life in the Peruvian capital exceeded the organizers' expectations. According to one of its spokesmen, Sandro del Negro, this year they expected to gather 300,000 people after the 250,000 who attended the event last year. Besides Lima, there were marches in the cities of Cusco and Piura.

Local media called the event 'historical' and registered the festive atmosphere in which it developed. Entire families attended the march and most of the participants were young. Catholics and Protestants were the majority among the demonstrators, but a local TV channel also identified some agnostics and small groups of Muslims and Jews.

Peruvian Congressman Julio Rosas attended the event as the leader of a large group of evangelicals. "Life is a right to be protected by any society deemed civilized. The Peruvian population cannot afford to become barbarian and install a culture of death in our country," said the legislator.

Juan Luis Cardinal Cipriani, Archbishop of Lima, served as the keynote speaker. "Today we are here," he said, "to defend the lives of the most vulnerable, the unborn, of those who have no voice."

The Primate of the Catholic Church in Peru also read a message that Pope Francis sent to the participants, encouraging them to defend the right to life of the unborn because "all life is sacred."