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Catholic World News News Feature

Colombian cardinal begs pro-life prayer campaign March 21, 2006

Cardinal Pedro Rubiano of Bogota, the capital of Colombia, has pleaded with pro-lifers worldwide to join in a massive prayer effort to stop abortion from being legalized in the country.

In a letter addressed to Dan Zeidler, the US representative of the Caracas-based Latin American Alliance for the Family, the cardinal said, "we ask for the support of all of the people in the entire world who care about life to join with us in crying out to heaven for the success of these efforts."

A case before the nation's Constitutional Court is to decide on whether abortion should be legalized in the country.

Zeidler explained, "All Latin American countries, except for Cuba, through their constitutions and other laws protect the right to life, sometimes explicitly from the moment of conception. Abortion is generally prohibited. This life-respecting legal system has been under attack by strong internationally-supported abortion forces for the past few decades." Virtually all legislative attempts to eliminate or weaken these life-protecting laws have been defeated, until now.

The gravity of the situation was explained in the letter from the cardinal. "The future, not only of Colombia, but of all of Latin America is at stake," he wrote. "The loss of one country will substantially weaken the pro-life fabric of all of Latin America."

The Church is organizing what they hope will be massive march of hundreds of thousands of Colombians to "show their love of the Lord and their rejection of the culture of death."