{"id":14134,"date":"2016-05-09T18:40:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T18:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/rome-celebrates-the-beauty-of-life-in-thousands-strong-march-10115\/"},"modified":"2016-05-09T18:40:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-09T18:40:00","slug":"rome-celebrates-the-beauty-of-life-in-thousands-strong-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/05\/rome-celebrates-the-beauty-of-life-in-thousands-strong-march\/","title":{"rendered":"Rome celebrates the beauty of life in thousands-strong march"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/MarchForLife2016_second_option_AlexeyGotovskiy_.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>Rome, Italy, May 9, 2016 \/ 12:40 pm (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- The greatest challenge in the fight to value and protect human life worldwide is indifference, says one pro-life leader. However, as demonstrated by the internationally-attended March for Life in Rome which on Sunday marked its fourth year, that attitude is beginning to change.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe March for Life is growing,\u201d said Fr. Shenan Boquet, president of Human Life International (HLI). I\u2019ve been participating now for a number of years. It\u2019s great to see the numbers, and to see especially young people, young families, people getting more involved. It\u2019s an exciting time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As in past years, there was a strong international presence at Sunday's march, with some 26 countries represented among the thousands of participants.<\/p>\n<p>First held in Rome on Mother's Day in 2012 (having previously been held in other parts of the country on two other occasions), the annual event was modeled from the U.S. March for Life held each year in Washington D.C. Over the past four years, thousands of people of traveled around from around the world to take part.<\/p>\n<p>The inspiration for the March for Life also came from a challenge made by Pope Benedict XVI, Fr. Boquet told CNA. \u201cThat\u2019s how the March actually began,\u201d he said: It \u201cwas out of a beautiful fruit of Pope Benedict XVI\u2019s call: get into the public conversation. Get into the public square.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the international presence at the March for Life in Rome demonstrates the global concern for the unborn, there are still challenges, said Fr. Boquet \u2013 who as HLI president is involved with pro-life initiatives worldwide. One of the greatest challenges in the world today, he said, is \u201ca sense of indifference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/editors.catholicnewsagency.com\/viewPhoto.php?id=5730d3ed8e34d&amp;t=1\"><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause abortion has become legal in so many parts of the world, and that we see even where it\u2019s not legal groups pushing abortion, and pushing the agenda,\u201d he said, \u201cpeople have just kind of accepted the fact that: well, this is just the way it is. What can we do about it? How can we change the conversation?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the United States, for instance, \u201cthere has been a whole generation of people \u201cformed inside that environment. To them it\u2019s common, it\u2019s normality, it\u2019s like having a book on your coffee table. It\u2019s just part of the natural conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe challenge, really, is to re-teach the language of life. That is the biggest challenge I see globally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This year's March for Life began its peaceful demonstration at the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin \u2013 best known as the location of the Bocca della Verita, or the Mouth of Truth. The marchers then made their way to St. Peter's Square, just in time to hear Pope Francis \u201cgreet the participants in the March for Life\u201d at his weekly Regina Caeli address.<\/p>\n<p>Thousands of people attended the March, Fr. Boquet said, \u201cand it was great to have the Holy Father acknowledge that, and extend his blessing, not only to all the people, but also upon us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was a confirmation: keep up the good work! Keep marching, keep making that message known.\u201d<br>\nFr. Boquet also spoke of the witness that was made by the March for Life itself to non-participating passersby on the streets of Rome.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to watch people on the side,\u201d he said, \u201cwhich is part of the intention of the March: to kind of interrupt people\u2019s normality, while they\u2019re having their gelato, or their cappuccino, and say: hey, what is all this about?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to engage without engaging. It\u2019s really exciting to see.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?a=rQyK7L4Ou6s:hGRLhivnYSg:yIl2AUoC8zA\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews\/~4\/rQyK7L4Ou6s\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/MarchForLife2016_second_option_AlexeyGotovskiy_.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>Rome, Italy, May 9, 2016 \/ 12:40 pm (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\" target=\"_self\">CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- The greatest challenge in the fight to value and protect human life worldwide is indifference, says one pro-life leader. However, as demonstrated by the internationally-attended March for Life in Rome which on Sunday marked its fourth year, that attitude is beginning to change.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The March for Life is growing,&rdquo; said Fr. Shenan Boquet, president of Human Life International (HLI). I&rsquo;ve been participating now for a number of years. It&rsquo;s great to see the numbers, and to see especially young people, young families, people getting more involved. It&rsquo;s an exciting time.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>As in past years, there was a strong international presence at Sunday&#8217;s march, with some 26 countries represented among the thousands of participants.<\/p>\n<p>First held in Rome on Mother&#8217;s Day in 2012 (having previously been held in other parts of the country on two other occasions), the annual event was modeled from the U.S. March for Life held each year in Washington D.C. Over the past four years, thousands of people of traveled around from around the world to take part.<\/p>\n<p>The inspiration for the March for Life also came from a challenge made by Pope Benedict XVI, Fr. Boquet told CNA. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s how the March actually began,&rdquo; he said: It &ldquo;was out of a beautiful fruit of Pope Benedict XVI&rsquo;s call: get into the public conversation. Get into the public square.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>While the international presence at the March for Life in Rome demonstrates the global concern for the unborn, there are still challenges, said Fr. Boquet &ndash; who as HLI president is involved with pro-life initiatives worldwide. One of the greatest challenges in the world today, he said, is &ldquo;a sense of indifference.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/editors.catholicnewsagency.com\/viewPhoto.php?id=5730d3ed8e34d&amp;t=1\"><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Because abortion has become legal in so many parts of the world, and that we see even where it&rsquo;s not legal groups pushing abortion, and pushing the agenda,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;people have just kind of accepted the fact that: well, this is just the way it is. What can we do about it? How can we change the conversation?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In the United States, for instance, &ldquo;there has been a whole generation of people &ldquo;formed inside that environment. To them it&rsquo;s common, it&rsquo;s normality, it&rsquo;s like having a book on your coffee table. It&rsquo;s just part of the natural conversation.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The challenge, really, is to re-teach the language of life. That is the biggest challenge I see globally.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>This year&#8217;s March for Life began its peaceful demonstration at the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin &ndash; best known as the location of the Bocca della Verita, or the Mouth of Truth. The marchers then made their way to St. Peter&#8217;s Square, just in time to hear Pope Francis &ldquo;greet the participants in the March for Life&rdquo; at his weekly Regina Caeli address.<\/p>\n<p>Thousands of people attended the March, Fr. Boquet said, &ldquo;and it was great to have the Holy Father acknowledge that, and extend his blessing, not only to all the people, but also upon us.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;That was a confirmation: keep up the good work! Keep marching, keep making that message known.&rdquo;<br \/>\nFr. Boquet also spoke of the witness that was made by the March for Life itself to non-participating passersby on the streets of Rome.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s wonderful to watch people on the side,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;which is part of the intention of the March: to kind of interrupt people&rsquo;s normality, while they&rsquo;re having their gelato, or their cappuccino, and say: hey, what is all this about?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an opportunity to engage without engaging. It&rsquo;s really exciting to see.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?a=rQyK7L4Ou6s:hGRLhivnYSg:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews\/~4\/rQyK7L4Ou6s\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rome celebrates the beauty of life in thousands-strong march<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rome, Italy, May 9, 2016 \/ 12:40 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- The greatest challenge in the fight to value and protect human life worldwide is indifference, says one pro-life leader. However, as demonstrated by the internationally-attended March for Life in Rome which on Sunday marked its fourth year, that attitude is beginning to change. &ldquo;The March for Life is growing,&rdquo; said Fr. Shenan Boquet, president of Human Life International (HLI). I&rsquo;ve been participating now for a number of years. It&rsquo;s great to see the numbers, and to see especially young people, young families, people getting more involved. It&rsquo;s an exciting time.&rdquo; As in past years, there was a strong international presence at Sunday&#039;s march, with some 26 countries represented among the thousands of participants. First held in Rome on Mother&#039;s Day in 2012 (having previously been held in other parts of the country on two other occasions), the annual event was modeled from the U.S. March for Life held each year in Washington D.C. Over the past four years, thousands of people of traveled around from around the world to take part. The inspiration for the March for Life also came from a challenge made by Pope Benedict XVI, Fr. Boquet told CNA. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s how the March actually began,&rdquo; he said: It &ldquo;was out of a beautiful fruit of Pope Benedict XVI&rsquo;s call: get into the public conversation. Get into the public square.&rdquo; While the international presence at the March for Life in Rome demonstrates the global concern for the unborn, there are still challenges, said Fr. Boquet &ndash; who as HLI president is involved with pro-life initiatives worldwide. One of the greatest challenges in the world today, he said, is &ldquo;a sense of indifference.&rdquo; &ldquo;Because abortion has become legal in so many parts of the world, and that we see even where it&rsquo;s not legal groups pushing abortion, and pushing the agenda,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;people have just kind of accepted the fact that: well, this is just the way it is. What can we do about it? How can we change the conversation?&rdquo; In the United States, for instance, &ldquo;there has been a whole generation of people &ldquo;formed inside that environment. To them it&rsquo;s common, it&rsquo;s normality, it&rsquo;s like having a book on your coffee table. It&rsquo;s just part of the natural conversation.&rdquo; &ldquo;The challenge, really, is to re-teach the language of life. That is the biggest challenge I see globally.&rdquo; This year&#039;s March for Life began its peaceful demonstration at the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin &ndash; best known as the location of the Bocca della Verita, or the Mouth of Truth. The marchers then made their way to St. Peter&#039;s Square, just in time to hear Pope Francis &ldquo;greet the participants in the March for Life&rdquo; at his weekly Regina Caeli address. Thousands of people attended the March, Fr. Boquet said, &ldquo;and it was great to have the Holy Father acknowledge that, and extend his blessing, not only to all the people, but also upon us.&rdquo; &ldquo;That was a confirmation: keep up the good work! Keep marching, keep making that message known.&rdquo; Fr. Boquet also spoke of the witness that was made by the March for Life itself to non-participating passersby on the streets of Rome. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s wonderful to watch people on the side,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;which is part of the intention of the March: to kind of interrupt people&rsquo;s normality, while they&rsquo;re having their gelato, or their cappuccino, and say: hey, what is all this about?&rdquo; &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an opportunity to engage without engaging. It&rsquo;s really exciting to see.&rdquo;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/05\/rome-celebrates-the-beauty-of-life-in-thousands-strong-march\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rome celebrates the beauty of life in thousands-strong march\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rome, Italy, May 9, 2016 \/ 12:40 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- The greatest challenge in the fight to value and protect human life worldwide is indifference, says one pro-life leader. However, as demonstrated by the internationally-attended March for Life in Rome which on Sunday marked its fourth year, that attitude is beginning to change. &ldquo;The March for Life is growing,&rdquo; said Fr. Shenan Boquet, president of Human Life International (HLI). I&rsquo;ve been participating now for a number of years. It&rsquo;s great to see the numbers, and to see especially young people, young families, people getting more involved. It&rsquo;s an exciting time.&rdquo; As in past years, there was a strong international presence at Sunday&#039;s march, with some 26 countries represented among the thousands of participants. First held in Rome on Mother&#039;s Day in 2012 (having previously been held in other parts of the country on two other occasions), the annual event was modeled from the U.S. March for Life held each year in Washington D.C. Over the past four years, thousands of people of traveled around from around the world to take part. The inspiration for the March for Life also came from a challenge made by Pope Benedict XVI, Fr. Boquet told CNA. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s how the March actually began,&rdquo; he said: It &ldquo;was out of a beautiful fruit of Pope Benedict XVI&rsquo;s call: get into the public conversation. Get into the public square.&rdquo; While the international presence at the March for Life in Rome demonstrates the global concern for the unborn, there are still challenges, said Fr. Boquet &ndash; who as HLI president is involved with pro-life initiatives worldwide. One of the greatest challenges in the world today, he said, is &ldquo;a sense of indifference.&rdquo; &ldquo;Because abortion has become legal in so many parts of the world, and that we see even where it&rsquo;s not legal groups pushing abortion, and pushing the agenda,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;people have just kind of accepted the fact that: well, this is just the way it is. What can we do about it? How can we change the conversation?&rdquo; In the United States, for instance, &ldquo;there has been a whole generation of people &ldquo;formed inside that environment. To them it&rsquo;s common, it&rsquo;s normality, it&rsquo;s like having a book on your coffee table. It&rsquo;s just part of the natural conversation.&rdquo; &ldquo;The challenge, really, is to re-teach the language of life. That is the biggest challenge I see globally.&rdquo; This year&#039;s March for Life began its peaceful demonstration at the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin &ndash; best known as the location of the Bocca della Verita, or the Mouth of Truth. The marchers then made their way to St. Peter&#039;s Square, just in time to hear Pope Francis &ldquo;greet the participants in the March for Life&rdquo; at his weekly Regina Caeli address. Thousands of people attended the March, Fr. Boquet said, &ldquo;and it was great to have the Holy Father acknowledge that, and extend his blessing, not only to all the people, but also upon us.&rdquo; &ldquo;That was a confirmation: keep up the good work! Keep marching, keep making that message known.&rdquo; Fr. Boquet also spoke of the witness that was made by the March for Life itself to non-participating passersby on the streets of Rome. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s wonderful to watch people on the side,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;which is part of the intention of the March: to kind of interrupt people&rsquo;s normality, while they&rsquo;re having their gelato, or their cappuccino, and say: hey, what is all this about?&rdquo; &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an opportunity to engage without engaging. It&rsquo;s really exciting to see.&rdquo;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/05\/rome-celebrates-the-beauty-of-life-in-thousands-strong-march\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-09T18:40:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/MarchForLife2016_second_option_AlexeyGotovskiy_.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/05\/rome-celebrates-the-beauty-of-life-in-thousands-strong-march\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/05\/rome-celebrates-the-beauty-of-life-in-thousands-strong-march\/\",\"name\":\"Rome celebrates the beauty of life in thousands-strong march\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-09T18:40:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-09T18:40:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Rome, Italy, May 9, 2016 \/ 12:40 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- The greatest challenge in the fight to value and protect human life worldwide is indifference, says one pro-life leader. However, as demonstrated by the internationally-attended March for Life in Rome which on Sunday marked its fourth year, that attitude is beginning to change. &ldquo;The March for Life is growing,&rdquo; said Fr. Shenan Boquet, president of Human Life International (HLI). I&rsquo;ve been participating now for a number of years. It&rsquo;s great to see the numbers, and to see especially young people, young families, people getting more involved. It&rsquo;s an exciting time.&rdquo; As in past years, there was a strong international presence at Sunday's march, with some 26 countries represented among the thousands of participants. First held in Rome on Mother's Day in 2012 (having previously been held in other parts of the country on two other occasions), the annual event was modeled from the U.S. March for Life held each year in Washington D.C. Over the past four years, thousands of people of traveled around from around the world to take part. The inspiration for the March for Life also came from a challenge made by Pope Benedict XVI, Fr. Boquet told CNA. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s how the March actually began,&rdquo; he said: It &ldquo;was out of a beautiful fruit of Pope Benedict XVI&rsquo;s call: get into the public conversation. Get into the public square.&rdquo; While the international presence at the March for Life in Rome demonstrates the global concern for the unborn, there are still challenges, said Fr. Boquet &ndash; who as HLI president is involved with pro-life initiatives worldwide. One of the greatest challenges in the world today, he said, is &ldquo;a sense of indifference.&rdquo; &ldquo;Because abortion has become legal in so many parts of the world, and that we see even where it&rsquo;s not legal groups pushing abortion, and pushing the agenda,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;people have just kind of accepted the fact that: well, this is just the way it is. What can we do about it? How can we change the conversation?&rdquo; In the United States, for instance, &ldquo;there has been a whole generation of people &ldquo;formed inside that environment. To them it&rsquo;s common, it&rsquo;s normality, it&rsquo;s like having a book on your coffee table. It&rsquo;s just part of the natural conversation.&rdquo; &ldquo;The challenge, really, is to re-teach the language of life. That is the biggest challenge I see globally.&rdquo; This year's March for Life began its peaceful demonstration at the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin &ndash; best known as the location of the Bocca della Verita, or the Mouth of Truth. The marchers then made their way to St. Peter's Square, just in time to hear Pope Francis &ldquo;greet the participants in the March for Life&rdquo; at his weekly Regina Caeli address. Thousands of people attended the March, Fr. Boquet said, &ldquo;and it was great to have the Holy Father acknowledge that, and extend his blessing, not only to all the people, but also upon us.&rdquo; &ldquo;That was a confirmation: keep up the good work! Keep marching, keep making that message known.&rdquo; Fr. Boquet also spoke of the witness that was made by the March for Life itself to non-participating passersby on the streets of Rome. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s wonderful to watch people on the side,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;which is part of the intention of the March: to kind of interrupt people&rsquo;s normality, while they&rsquo;re having their gelato, or their cappuccino, and say: hey, what is all this about?&rdquo; &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an opportunity to engage without engaging. 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However, as demonstrated by the internationally-attended March for Life in Rome which on Sunday marked its fourth year, that attitude is beginning to change. &ldquo;The March for Life is growing,&rdquo; said Fr. Shenan Boquet, president of Human Life International (HLI). I&rsquo;ve been participating now for a number of years. It&rsquo;s great to see the numbers, and to see especially young people, young families, people getting more involved. It&rsquo;s an exciting time.&rdquo; As in past years, there was a strong international presence at Sunday's march, with some 26 countries represented among the thousands of participants. First held in Rome on Mother's Day in 2012 (having previously been held in other parts of the country on two other occasions), the annual event was modeled from the U.S. March for Life held each year in Washington D.C. Over the past four years, thousands of people of traveled around from around the world to take part. The inspiration for the March for Life also came from a challenge made by Pope Benedict XVI, Fr. Boquet told CNA. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s how the March actually began,&rdquo; he said: It &ldquo;was out of a beautiful fruit of Pope Benedict XVI&rsquo;s call: get into the public conversation. Get into the public square.&rdquo; While the international presence at the March for Life in Rome demonstrates the global concern for the unborn, there are still challenges, said Fr. Boquet &ndash; who as HLI president is involved with pro-life initiatives worldwide. One of the greatest challenges in the world today, he said, is &ldquo;a sense of indifference.&rdquo; &ldquo;Because abortion has become legal in so many parts of the world, and that we see even where it&rsquo;s not legal groups pushing abortion, and pushing the agenda,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;people have just kind of accepted the fact that: well, this is just the way it is. What can we do about it? How can we change the conversation?&rdquo; In the United States, for instance, &ldquo;there has been a whole generation of people &ldquo;formed inside that environment. To them it&rsquo;s common, it&rsquo;s normality, it&rsquo;s like having a book on your coffee table. It&rsquo;s just part of the natural conversation.&rdquo; &ldquo;The challenge, really, is to re-teach the language of life. That is the biggest challenge I see globally.&rdquo; This year's March for Life began its peaceful demonstration at the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin &ndash; best known as the location of the Bocca della Verita, or the Mouth of Truth. The marchers then made their way to St. Peter's Square, just in time to hear Pope Francis &ldquo;greet the participants in the March for Life&rdquo; at his weekly Regina Caeli address. Thousands of people attended the March, Fr. Boquet said, &ldquo;and it was great to have the Holy Father acknowledge that, and extend his blessing, not only to all the people, but also upon us.&rdquo; &ldquo;That was a confirmation: keep up the good work! Keep marching, keep making that message known.&rdquo; Fr. Boquet also spoke of the witness that was made by the March for Life itself to non-participating passersby on the streets of Rome. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s wonderful to watch people on the side,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;which is part of the intention of the March: to kind of interrupt people&rsquo;s normality, while they&rsquo;re having their gelato, or their cappuccino, and say: hey, what is all this about?&rdquo; &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an opportunity to engage without engaging. It&rsquo;s really exciting to see.&rdquo;","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/05\/rome-celebrates-the-beauty-of-life-in-thousands-strong-march\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rome celebrates the beauty of life in thousands-strong march","og_description":"Rome, Italy, May 9, 2016 \/ 12:40 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- The greatest challenge in the fight to value and protect human life worldwide is indifference, says one pro-life leader. However, as demonstrated by the internationally-attended March for Life in Rome which on Sunday marked its fourth year, that attitude is beginning to change. &ldquo;The March for Life is growing,&rdquo; said Fr. Shenan Boquet, president of Human Life International (HLI). I&rsquo;ve been participating now for a number of years. It&rsquo;s great to see the numbers, and to see especially young people, young families, people getting more involved. It&rsquo;s an exciting time.&rdquo; As in past years, there was a strong international presence at Sunday's march, with some 26 countries represented among the thousands of participants. First held in Rome on Mother's Day in 2012 (having previously been held in other parts of the country on two other occasions), the annual event was modeled from the U.S. March for Life held each year in Washington D.C. Over the past four years, thousands of people of traveled around from around the world to take part. The inspiration for the March for Life also came from a challenge made by Pope Benedict XVI, Fr. Boquet told CNA. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s how the March actually began,&rdquo; he said: It &ldquo;was out of a beautiful fruit of Pope Benedict XVI&rsquo;s call: get into the public conversation. Get into the public square.&rdquo; While the international presence at the March for Life in Rome demonstrates the global concern for the unborn, there are still challenges, said Fr. Boquet &ndash; who as HLI president is involved with pro-life initiatives worldwide. One of the greatest challenges in the world today, he said, is &ldquo;a sense of indifference.&rdquo; &ldquo;Because abortion has become legal in so many parts of the world, and that we see even where it&rsquo;s not legal groups pushing abortion, and pushing the agenda,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;people have just kind of accepted the fact that: well, this is just the way it is. What can we do about it? How can we change the conversation?&rdquo; In the United States, for instance, &ldquo;there has been a whole generation of people &ldquo;formed inside that environment. To them it&rsquo;s common, it&rsquo;s normality, it&rsquo;s like having a book on your coffee table. It&rsquo;s just part of the natural conversation.&rdquo; &ldquo;The challenge, really, is to re-teach the language of life. That is the biggest challenge I see globally.&rdquo; This year's March for Life began its peaceful demonstration at the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin &ndash; best known as the location of the Bocca della Verita, or the Mouth of Truth. The marchers then made their way to St. Peter's Square, just in time to hear Pope Francis &ldquo;greet the participants in the March for Life&rdquo; at his weekly Regina Caeli address. Thousands of people attended the March, Fr. Boquet said, &ldquo;and it was great to have the Holy Father acknowledge that, and extend his blessing, not only to all the people, but also upon us.&rdquo; &ldquo;That was a confirmation: keep up the good work! Keep marching, keep making that message known.&rdquo; Fr. Boquet also spoke of the witness that was made by the March for Life itself to non-participating passersby on the streets of Rome. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s wonderful to watch people on the side,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;which is part of the intention of the March: to kind of interrupt people&rsquo;s normality, while they&rsquo;re having their gelato, or their cappuccino, and say: hey, what is all this about?&rdquo; &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an opportunity to engage without engaging. It&rsquo;s really exciting to see.&rdquo;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/05\/rome-celebrates-the-beauty-of-life-in-thousands-strong-march\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2016-05-09T18:40:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/MarchForLife2016_second_option_AlexeyGotovskiy_.jpg"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/05\/rome-celebrates-the-beauty-of-life-in-thousands-strong-march\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/05\/rome-celebrates-the-beauty-of-life-in-thousands-strong-march\/","name":"Rome celebrates the beauty of life in thousands-strong march","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-05-09T18:40:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-05-09T18:40:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Rome, Italy, May 9, 2016 \/ 12:40 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- The greatest challenge in the fight to value and protect human life worldwide is indifference, says one pro-life leader. However, as demonstrated by the internationally-attended March for Life in Rome which on Sunday marked its fourth year, that attitude is beginning to change. &ldquo;The March for Life is growing,&rdquo; said Fr. Shenan Boquet, president of Human Life International (HLI). I&rsquo;ve been participating now for a number of years. It&rsquo;s great to see the numbers, and to see especially young people, young families, people getting more involved. It&rsquo;s an exciting time.&rdquo; As in past years, there was a strong international presence at Sunday's march, with some 26 countries represented among the thousands of participants. First held in Rome on Mother's Day in 2012 (having previously been held in other parts of the country on two other occasions), the annual event was modeled from the U.S. March for Life held each year in Washington D.C. Over the past four years, thousands of people of traveled around from around the world to take part. The inspiration for the March for Life also came from a challenge made by Pope Benedict XVI, Fr. Boquet told CNA. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s how the March actually began,&rdquo; he said: It &ldquo;was out of a beautiful fruit of Pope Benedict XVI&rsquo;s call: get into the public conversation. Get into the public square.&rdquo; While the international presence at the March for Life in Rome demonstrates the global concern for the unborn, there are still challenges, said Fr. Boquet &ndash; who as HLI president is involved with pro-life initiatives worldwide. One of the greatest challenges in the world today, he said, is &ldquo;a sense of indifference.&rdquo; &ldquo;Because abortion has become legal in so many parts of the world, and that we see even where it&rsquo;s not legal groups pushing abortion, and pushing the agenda,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;people have just kind of accepted the fact that: well, this is just the way it is. What can we do about it? How can we change the conversation?&rdquo; In the United States, for instance, &ldquo;there has been a whole generation of people &ldquo;formed inside that environment. To them it&rsquo;s common, it&rsquo;s normality, it&rsquo;s like having a book on your coffee table. It&rsquo;s just part of the natural conversation.&rdquo; &ldquo;The challenge, really, is to re-teach the language of life. That is the biggest challenge I see globally.&rdquo; This year's March for Life began its peaceful demonstration at the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin &ndash; best known as the location of the Bocca della Verita, or the Mouth of Truth. The marchers then made their way to St. Peter's Square, just in time to hear Pope Francis &ldquo;greet the participants in the March for Life&rdquo; at his weekly Regina Caeli address. Thousands of people attended the March, Fr. Boquet said, &ldquo;and it was great to have the Holy Father acknowledge that, and extend his blessing, not only to all the people, but also upon us.&rdquo; &ldquo;That was a confirmation: keep up the good work! Keep marching, keep making that message known.&rdquo; Fr. Boquet also spoke of the witness that was made by the March for Life itself to non-participating passersby on the streets of Rome. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s wonderful to watch people on the side,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;which is part of the intention of the March: to kind of interrupt people&rsquo;s normality, while they&rsquo;re having their gelato, or their cappuccino, and say: hey, what is all this about?&rdquo; &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an opportunity to engage without engaging. 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