{"id":20100,"date":"2017-05-20T17:15:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-20T17:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/rome-hosts-annual-march-for-life-44599\/"},"modified":"2017-05-20T17:15:00","modified_gmt":"2017-05-20T17:15:00","slug":"rome-hosts-annual-march-for-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/05\/rome-hosts-annual-march-for-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Rome hosts annual March for Life"},"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\/WhatsApp_Image_2017_05_20_at_120421_PM.jpeg\"><\/p>\n<p>Rome, Italy, May 20, 2017 \/ 11:15 am (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Held this year on May 20, Rome\u2019s seventh annual March for Life was a chance for pro-life advocates of any faith to share their convictions about the sanctity of life and how it is founded in a love of life and family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is the seventh edition of the March and as in the past years, we expect thousands of people to come and create a joyful atmosphere,\u201d Alessandro Elia, one of the event\u2019s organizers, told CNA ahead of Saturday\u2019s event.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn fact, we are against abortion because we love life and we love the family, a natural institution which is fundamental for every human society.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This year was Rome\u2019s sixth \u2013 and Italy\u2019s seventh \u2013 annual March for Life. The event\u2019s tagline was \u201cFor life without compromise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pope Francis gave his apostolic blessing to participants in the pro-life event. In a written message signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pope Francis voiced his hope that the March for Life would promote the dignity of human life in Italy.<\/p>\n<p>More than 6 million babies have been aborted in Italy since abortion on demand was legalized in the country in 1978.\u00a0 Since that time, \u201cit seems like being contrary to abortion is not permitted,\u201d Elia said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany Catholics and non-Catholics are very determined to end abortion and the March for Life is an annual occasion to prove that we exist and that our requests need to be taken into account by the civil and political world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>First held in Rome on Mother's Day in 2012 \u2013 previously held in another part of the country on one other occasion \u2013 the annual event was modeled after the U.S. March for Life held each year in Washington D.C.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past four years, thousands of people have traveled from around the world to take part.<\/p>\n<p>This year's March for Life began its peaceful demonstration at the Piazza della Repubblica, marching down Via Cavour, a major thoroughfare of the city, to arrive at the Piazza della Madonna di Loreto, located next to the busy Piazza Venezia of the well-known Altare della Patria national monument.<\/p>\n<p>Thought open to people of all faiths, the night before the March Eucharistic Adoration was held at the Basilica of Sant\u2019Andrea delle Fratte to pray for the reparation of the crime of abortion.<\/p>\n<p>Though there were heavy rain showers off-and-on the morning and early afternoon of the day of the March, by the time it began in the afternoon blue skies and sunshine prevailed.<\/p>\n<p>Euthanasia is a current pro-life issue in Italy at the moment, as the Italian Chamber has voted in favor of a bill that would effectively force doctors to follow directives from patients or their trustees \u2013 no matter made how many years earlier \u2013 to even include the withholding of food and water.<\/p>\n<p>Next the bill to be passed by the Italian Senate. The law, on advanced healthcare directives (in Italian called DAT), \u201crequires the doctor to be bound by an anticipated declaration of a patient who requests the suspension of nutrition and hydration,\u201d Elia explained.<\/p>\n<p>In this case, he said, the so-called \u201c\u2018right to die\u2019 for the patient equals the duty to kill for the doctor. This is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Besides forcing doctors to participate in what is essentially a form of assisted suicide, \u201cthe death of patients by starvation and dehydration is extremely cruel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?a=3ErNpGnSqQY:oQ4WXN51wk0: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\/3ErNpGnSqQY\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/WhatsApp_Image_2017_05_20_at_120421_PM.jpeg\"><\/p>\n<p>Rome, Italy, May 20, 2017 \/ 11:15 am (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\" target=\"_self\">CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Held this year on May 20, Rome&rsquo;s seventh annual March for Life was a chance for pro-life advocates of any faith to share their convictions about the sanctity of life and how it is founded in a love of life and family.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It is the seventh edition of the March and as in the past years, we expect thousands of people to come and create a joyful atmosphere,&rdquo; Alessandro Elia, one of the event&rsquo;s organizers, told CNA ahead of Saturday&rsquo;s event.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In fact, we are against abortion because we love life and we love the family, a natural institution which is fundamental for every human society.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>This year was Rome&rsquo;s sixth &ndash; and Italy&rsquo;s seventh &ndash; annual March for Life. The event&rsquo;s tagline was &ldquo;For life without compromise.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Pope Francis gave his apostolic blessing to participants in the pro-life event. In a written message signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pope Francis voiced his hope that the March for Life would promote the dignity of human life in Italy.<\/p>\n<p>More than 6 million babies have been aborted in Italy since abortion on demand was legalized in the country in 1978.&nbsp; Since that time, &ldquo;it seems like being contrary to abortion is not permitted,&rdquo; Elia said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Many Catholics and non-Catholics are very determined to end abortion and the March for Life is an annual occasion to prove that we exist and that our requests need to be taken into account by the civil and political world.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>First held in Rome on Mother&#8217;s Day in 2012 &ndash; previously held in another part of the country on one other occasion &ndash; the annual event was modeled after the U.S. March for Life held each year in Washington D.C.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past four years, thousands of people have traveled from around the world to take part.<\/p>\n<p>This year&#8217;s March for Life began its peaceful demonstration at the Piazza della Repubblica, marching down Via Cavour, a major thoroughfare of the city, to arrive at the Piazza della Madonna di Loreto, located next to the busy Piazza Venezia of the well-known Altare della Patria national monument.<\/p>\n<p>Thought open to people of all faiths, the night before the March Eucharistic Adoration was held at the Basilica of Sant&rsquo;Andrea delle Fratte to pray for the reparation of the crime of abortion.<\/p>\n<p>Though there were heavy rain showers off-and-on the morning and early afternoon of the day of the March, by the time it began in the afternoon blue skies and sunshine prevailed.<\/p>\n<p>Euthanasia is a current pro-life issue in Italy at the moment, as the Italian Chamber has voted in favor of a bill that would effectively force doctors to follow directives from patients or their trustees &ndash; no matter made how many years earlier &ndash; to even include the withholding of food and water.<\/p>\n<p>Next the bill to be passed by the Italian Senate. The law, on advanced healthcare directives (in Italian called DAT), &ldquo;requires the doctor to be bound by an anticipated declaration of a patient who requests the suspension of nutrition and hydration,&rdquo; Elia explained.<\/p>\n<p>In this case, he said, the so-called &ldquo;&lsquo;right to die&rsquo; for the patient equals the duty to kill for the doctor. This is unacceptable.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Besides forcing doctors to participate in what is essentially a form of assisted suicide, &ldquo;the death of patients by starvation and dehydration is extremely cruel,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<div>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?a=3ErNpGnSqQY:oQ4WXN51wk0: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\/3ErNpGnSqQY\" 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":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vatican"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rome hosts annual March for Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rome, Italy, May 20, 2017 \/ 11:15 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Held this year on May 20, Rome&rsquo;s seventh annual March for Life was a chance for pro-life advocates of any faith to share their convictions about the sanctity of life and how it is founded in a love of life and family. &ldquo;It is the seventh edition of the March and as in the past years, we expect thousands of people to come and create a joyful atmosphere,&rdquo; Alessandro Elia, one of the event&rsquo;s organizers, told CNA ahead of Saturday&rsquo;s event. &ldquo;In fact, we are against abortion because we love life and we love the family, a natural institution which is fundamental for every human society.&rdquo; This year was Rome&rsquo;s sixth &ndash; and Italy&rsquo;s seventh &ndash; annual March for Life. The event&rsquo;s tagline was &ldquo;For life without compromise.&rdquo; Pope Francis gave his apostolic blessing to participants in the pro-life event. In a written message signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pope Francis voiced his hope that the March for Life would promote the dignity of human life in Italy. More than 6 million babies have been aborted in Italy since abortion on demand was legalized in the country in 1978.&nbsp; Since that time, &ldquo;it seems like being contrary to abortion is not permitted,&rdquo; Elia said.&nbsp; &ldquo;Many Catholics and non-Catholics are very determined to end abortion and the March for Life is an annual occasion to prove that we exist and that our requests need to be taken into account by the civil and political world.&rdquo; First held in Rome on Mother&#039;s Day in 2012 &ndash; previously held in another part of the country on one other occasion &ndash; the annual event was modeled after the U.S. March for Life held each year in Washington D.C. Over the past four years, thousands of people have traveled from around the world to take part. This year&#039;s March for Life began its peaceful demonstration at the Piazza della Repubblica, marching down Via Cavour, a major thoroughfare of the city, to arrive at the Piazza della Madonna di Loreto, located next to the busy Piazza Venezia of the well-known Altare della Patria national monument. Thought open to people of all faiths, the night before the March Eucharistic Adoration was held at the Basilica of Sant&rsquo;Andrea delle Fratte to pray for the reparation of the crime of abortion. Though there were heavy rain showers off-and-on the morning and early afternoon of the day of the March, by the time it began in the afternoon blue skies and sunshine prevailed. Euthanasia is a current pro-life issue in Italy at the moment, as the Italian Chamber has voted in favor of a bill that would effectively force doctors to follow directives from patients or their trustees &ndash; no matter made how many years earlier &ndash; to even include the withholding of food and water. Next the bill to be passed by the Italian Senate. The law, on advanced healthcare directives (in Italian called DAT), &ldquo;requires the doctor to be bound by an anticipated declaration of a patient who requests the suspension of nutrition and hydration,&rdquo; Elia explained. In this case, he said, the so-called &ldquo;&lsquo;right to die&rsquo; for the patient equals the duty to kill for the doctor. This is unacceptable.&rdquo; Besides forcing doctors to participate in what is essentially a form of assisted suicide, &ldquo;the death of patients by starvation and dehydration is extremely cruel,&rdquo; he said.\" \/>\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\/2017\/05\/rome-hosts-annual-march-for-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rome hosts annual March for Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rome, Italy, May 20, 2017 \/ 11:15 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Held this year on May 20, Rome&rsquo;s seventh annual March for Life was a chance for pro-life advocates of any faith to share their convictions about the sanctity of life and how it is founded in a love of life and family. &ldquo;It is the seventh edition of the March and as in the past years, we expect thousands of people to come and create a joyful atmosphere,&rdquo; Alessandro Elia, one of the event&rsquo;s organizers, told CNA ahead of Saturday&rsquo;s event. &ldquo;In fact, we are against abortion because we love life and we love the family, a natural institution which is fundamental for every human society.&rdquo; This year was Rome&rsquo;s sixth &ndash; and Italy&rsquo;s seventh &ndash; annual March for Life. The event&rsquo;s tagline was &ldquo;For life without compromise.&rdquo; Pope Francis gave his apostolic blessing to participants in the pro-life event. In a written message signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pope Francis voiced his hope that the March for Life would promote the dignity of human life in Italy. More than 6 million babies have been aborted in Italy since abortion on demand was legalized in the country in 1978.&nbsp; Since that time, &ldquo;it seems like being contrary to abortion is not permitted,&rdquo; Elia said.&nbsp; &ldquo;Many Catholics and non-Catholics are very determined to end abortion and the March for Life is an annual occasion to prove that we exist and that our requests need to be taken into account by the civil and political world.&rdquo; First held in Rome on Mother&#039;s Day in 2012 &ndash; previously held in another part of the country on one other occasion &ndash; the annual event was modeled after the U.S. March for Life held each year in Washington D.C. Over the past four years, thousands of people have traveled from around the world to take part. This year&#039;s March for Life began its peaceful demonstration at the Piazza della Repubblica, marching down Via Cavour, a major thoroughfare of the city, to arrive at the Piazza della Madonna di Loreto, located next to the busy Piazza Venezia of the well-known Altare della Patria national monument. Thought open to people of all faiths, the night before the March Eucharistic Adoration was held at the Basilica of Sant&rsquo;Andrea delle Fratte to pray for the reparation of the crime of abortion. Though there were heavy rain showers off-and-on the morning and early afternoon of the day of the March, by the time it began in the afternoon blue skies and sunshine prevailed. Euthanasia is a current pro-life issue in Italy at the moment, as the Italian Chamber has voted in favor of a bill that would effectively force doctors to follow directives from patients or their trustees &ndash; no matter made how many years earlier &ndash; to even include the withholding of food and water. Next the bill to be passed by the Italian Senate. The law, on advanced healthcare directives (in Italian called DAT), &ldquo;requires the doctor to be bound by an anticipated declaration of a patient who requests the suspension of nutrition and hydration,&rdquo; Elia explained. In this case, he said, the so-called &ldquo;&lsquo;right to die&rsquo; for the patient equals the duty to kill for the doctor. This is unacceptable.&rdquo; Besides forcing doctors to participate in what is essentially a form of assisted suicide, &ldquo;the death of patients by starvation and dehydration is extremely cruel,&rdquo; he said.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/05\/rome-hosts-annual-march-for-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-20T17:15:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/WhatsApp_Image_2017_05_20_at_120421_PM.jpeg\" \/>\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\/2017\/05\/rome-hosts-annual-march-for-life\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/05\/rome-hosts-annual-march-for-life\/\",\"name\":\"Rome hosts annual March for Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-05-20T17:15:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-20T17:15:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Rome, Italy, May 20, 2017 \/ 11:15 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Held this year on May 20, Rome&rsquo;s seventh annual March for Life was a chance for pro-life advocates of any faith to share their convictions about the sanctity of life and how it is founded in a love of life and family. &ldquo;It is the seventh edition of the March and as in the past years, we expect thousands of people to come and create a joyful atmosphere,&rdquo; Alessandro Elia, one of the event&rsquo;s organizers, told CNA ahead of Saturday&rsquo;s event. &ldquo;In fact, we are against abortion because we love life and we love the family, a natural institution which is fundamental for every human society.&rdquo; This year was Rome&rsquo;s sixth &ndash; and Italy&rsquo;s seventh &ndash; annual March for Life. The event&rsquo;s tagline was &ldquo;For life without compromise.&rdquo; Pope Francis gave his apostolic blessing to participants in the pro-life event. In a written message signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pope Francis voiced his hope that the March for Life would promote the dignity of human life in Italy. More than 6 million babies have been aborted in Italy since abortion on demand was legalized in the country in 1978.&nbsp; Since that time, &ldquo;it seems like being contrary to abortion is not permitted,&rdquo; Elia said.&nbsp; &ldquo;Many Catholics and non-Catholics are very determined to end abortion and the March for Life is an annual occasion to prove that we exist and that our requests need to be taken into account by the civil and political world.&rdquo; First held in Rome on Mother's Day in 2012 &ndash; previously held in another part of the country on one other occasion &ndash; the annual event was modeled after the U.S. March for Life held each year in Washington D.C. Over the past four years, thousands of people have traveled from around the world to take part. This year's March for Life began its peaceful demonstration at the Piazza della Repubblica, marching down Via Cavour, a major thoroughfare of the city, to arrive at the Piazza della Madonna di Loreto, located next to the busy Piazza Venezia of the well-known Altare della Patria national monument. Thought open to people of all faiths, the night before the March Eucharistic Adoration was held at the Basilica of Sant&rsquo;Andrea delle Fratte to pray for the reparation of the crime of abortion. Though there were heavy rain showers off-and-on the morning and early afternoon of the day of the March, by the time it began in the afternoon blue skies and sunshine prevailed. Euthanasia is a current pro-life issue in Italy at the moment, as the Italian Chamber has voted in favor of a bill that would effectively force doctors to follow directives from patients or their trustees &ndash; no matter made how many years earlier &ndash; to even include the withholding of food and water. Next the bill to be passed by the Italian Senate. The law, on advanced healthcare directives (in Italian called DAT), &ldquo;requires the doctor to be bound by an anticipated declaration of a patient who requests the suspension of nutrition and hydration,&rdquo; Elia explained. In this case, he said, the so-called &ldquo;&lsquo;right to die&rsquo; for the patient equals the duty to kill for the doctor. This is unacceptable.&rdquo; Besides forcing doctors to participate in what is essentially a form of assisted suicide, &ldquo;the death of patients by starvation and dehydration is extremely cruel,&rdquo; he said.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/05\/rome-hosts-annual-march-for-life\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/05\/rome-hosts-annual-march-for-life\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/05\/rome-hosts-annual-march-for-life\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rome hosts annual March for Life\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rome hosts annual March for Life","description":"Rome, Italy, May 20, 2017 \/ 11:15 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Held this year on May 20, Rome&rsquo;s seventh annual March for Life was a chance for pro-life advocates of any faith to share their convictions about the sanctity of life and how it is founded in a love of life and family. &ldquo;It is the seventh edition of the March and as in the past years, we expect thousands of people to come and create a joyful atmosphere,&rdquo; Alessandro Elia, one of the event&rsquo;s organizers, told CNA ahead of Saturday&rsquo;s event. &ldquo;In fact, we are against abortion because we love life and we love the family, a natural institution which is fundamental for every human society.&rdquo; This year was Rome&rsquo;s sixth &ndash; and Italy&rsquo;s seventh &ndash; annual March for Life. The event&rsquo;s tagline was &ldquo;For life without compromise.&rdquo; Pope Francis gave his apostolic blessing to participants in the pro-life event. In a written message signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pope Francis voiced his hope that the March for Life would promote the dignity of human life in Italy. More than 6 million babies have been aborted in Italy since abortion on demand was legalized in the country in 1978.&nbsp; Since that time, &ldquo;it seems like being contrary to abortion is not permitted,&rdquo; Elia said.&nbsp; &ldquo;Many Catholics and non-Catholics are very determined to end abortion and the March for Life is an annual occasion to prove that we exist and that our requests need to be taken into account by the civil and political world.&rdquo; First held in Rome on Mother's Day in 2012 &ndash; previously held in another part of the country on one other occasion &ndash; the annual event was modeled after the U.S. March for Life held each year in Washington D.C. Over the past four years, thousands of people have traveled from around the world to take part. This year's March for Life began its peaceful demonstration at the Piazza della Repubblica, marching down Via Cavour, a major thoroughfare of the city, to arrive at the Piazza della Madonna di Loreto, located next to the busy Piazza Venezia of the well-known Altare della Patria national monument. Thought open to people of all faiths, the night before the March Eucharistic Adoration was held at the Basilica of Sant&rsquo;Andrea delle Fratte to pray for the reparation of the crime of abortion. Though there were heavy rain showers off-and-on the morning and early afternoon of the day of the March, by the time it began in the afternoon blue skies and sunshine prevailed. Euthanasia is a current pro-life issue in Italy at the moment, as the Italian Chamber has voted in favor of a bill that would effectively force doctors to follow directives from patients or their trustees &ndash; no matter made how many years earlier &ndash; to even include the withholding of food and water. Next the bill to be passed by the Italian Senate. The law, on advanced healthcare directives (in Italian called DAT), &ldquo;requires the doctor to be bound by an anticipated declaration of a patient who requests the suspension of nutrition and hydration,&rdquo; Elia explained. In this case, he said, the so-called &ldquo;&lsquo;right to die&rsquo; for the patient equals the duty to kill for the doctor. This is unacceptable.&rdquo; Besides forcing doctors to participate in what is essentially a form of assisted suicide, &ldquo;the death of patients by starvation and dehydration is extremely cruel,&rdquo; he said.","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\/2017\/05\/rome-hosts-annual-march-for-life\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rome hosts annual March for Life","og_description":"Rome, Italy, May 20, 2017 \/ 11:15 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Held this year on May 20, Rome&rsquo;s seventh annual March for Life was a chance for pro-life advocates of any faith to share their convictions about the sanctity of life and how it is founded in a love of life and family. &ldquo;It is the seventh edition of the March and as in the past years, we expect thousands of people to come and create a joyful atmosphere,&rdquo; Alessandro Elia, one of the event&rsquo;s organizers, told CNA ahead of Saturday&rsquo;s event. &ldquo;In fact, we are against abortion because we love life and we love the family, a natural institution which is fundamental for every human society.&rdquo; This year was Rome&rsquo;s sixth &ndash; and Italy&rsquo;s seventh &ndash; annual March for Life. The event&rsquo;s tagline was &ldquo;For life without compromise.&rdquo; Pope Francis gave his apostolic blessing to participants in the pro-life event. In a written message signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pope Francis voiced his hope that the March for Life would promote the dignity of human life in Italy. More than 6 million babies have been aborted in Italy since abortion on demand was legalized in the country in 1978.&nbsp; Since that time, &ldquo;it seems like being contrary to abortion is not permitted,&rdquo; Elia said.&nbsp; &ldquo;Many Catholics and non-Catholics are very determined to end abortion and the March for Life is an annual occasion to prove that we exist and that our requests need to be taken into account by the civil and political world.&rdquo; First held in Rome on Mother's Day in 2012 &ndash; previously held in another part of the country on one other occasion &ndash; the annual event was modeled after the U.S. March for Life held each year in Washington D.C. Over the past four years, thousands of people have traveled from around the world to take part. This year's March for Life began its peaceful demonstration at the Piazza della Repubblica, marching down Via Cavour, a major thoroughfare of the city, to arrive at the Piazza della Madonna di Loreto, located next to the busy Piazza Venezia of the well-known Altare della Patria national monument. Thought open to people of all faiths, the night before the March Eucharistic Adoration was held at the Basilica of Sant&rsquo;Andrea delle Fratte to pray for the reparation of the crime of abortion. Though there were heavy rain showers off-and-on the morning and early afternoon of the day of the March, by the time it began in the afternoon blue skies and sunshine prevailed. Euthanasia is a current pro-life issue in Italy at the moment, as the Italian Chamber has voted in favor of a bill that would effectively force doctors to follow directives from patients or their trustees &ndash; no matter made how many years earlier &ndash; to even include the withholding of food and water. Next the bill to be passed by the Italian Senate. The law, on advanced healthcare directives (in Italian called DAT), &ldquo;requires the doctor to be bound by an anticipated declaration of a patient who requests the suspension of nutrition and hydration,&rdquo; Elia explained. In this case, he said, the so-called &ldquo;&lsquo;right to die&rsquo; for the patient equals the duty to kill for the doctor. This is unacceptable.&rdquo; Besides forcing doctors to participate in what is essentially a form of assisted suicide, &ldquo;the death of patients by starvation and dehydration is extremely cruel,&rdquo; he said.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/05\/rome-hosts-annual-march-for-life\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2017-05-20T17:15:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/WhatsApp_Image_2017_05_20_at_120421_PM.jpeg"}],"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\/2017\/05\/rome-hosts-annual-march-for-life\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/05\/rome-hosts-annual-march-for-life\/","name":"Rome hosts annual March for Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-05-20T17:15:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-05-20T17:15:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Rome, Italy, May 20, 2017 \/ 11:15 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Held this year on May 20, Rome&rsquo;s seventh annual March for Life was a chance for pro-life advocates of any faith to share their convictions about the sanctity of life and how it is founded in a love of life and family. &ldquo;It is the seventh edition of the March and as in the past years, we expect thousands of people to come and create a joyful atmosphere,&rdquo; Alessandro Elia, one of the event&rsquo;s organizers, told CNA ahead of Saturday&rsquo;s event. &ldquo;In fact, we are against abortion because we love life and we love the family, a natural institution which is fundamental for every human society.&rdquo; This year was Rome&rsquo;s sixth &ndash; and Italy&rsquo;s seventh &ndash; annual March for Life. The event&rsquo;s tagline was &ldquo;For life without compromise.&rdquo; Pope Francis gave his apostolic blessing to participants in the pro-life event. In a written message signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pope Francis voiced his hope that the March for Life would promote the dignity of human life in Italy. More than 6 million babies have been aborted in Italy since abortion on demand was legalized in the country in 1978.&nbsp; Since that time, &ldquo;it seems like being contrary to abortion is not permitted,&rdquo; Elia said.&nbsp; &ldquo;Many Catholics and non-Catholics are very determined to end abortion and the March for Life is an annual occasion to prove that we exist and that our requests need to be taken into account by the civil and political world.&rdquo; First held in Rome on Mother's Day in 2012 &ndash; previously held in another part of the country on one other occasion &ndash; the annual event was modeled after the U.S. March for Life held each year in Washington D.C. Over the past four years, thousands of people have traveled from around the world to take part. This year's March for Life began its peaceful demonstration at the Piazza della Repubblica, marching down Via Cavour, a major thoroughfare of the city, to arrive at the Piazza della Madonna di Loreto, located next to the busy Piazza Venezia of the well-known Altare della Patria national monument. Thought open to people of all faiths, the night before the March Eucharistic Adoration was held at the Basilica of Sant&rsquo;Andrea delle Fratte to pray for the reparation of the crime of abortion. Though there were heavy rain showers off-and-on the morning and early afternoon of the day of the March, by the time it began in the afternoon blue skies and sunshine prevailed. Euthanasia is a current pro-life issue in Italy at the moment, as the Italian Chamber has voted in favor of a bill that would effectively force doctors to follow directives from patients or their trustees &ndash; no matter made how many years earlier &ndash; to even include the withholding of food and water. Next the bill to be passed by the Italian Senate. The law, on advanced healthcare directives (in Italian called DAT), &ldquo;requires the doctor to be bound by an anticipated declaration of a patient who requests the suspension of nutrition and hydration,&rdquo; Elia explained. In this case, he said, the so-called &ldquo;&lsquo;right to die&rsquo; for the patient equals the duty to kill for the doctor. This is unacceptable.&rdquo; Besides forcing doctors to participate in what is essentially a form of assisted suicide, &ldquo;the death of patients by starvation and dehydration is extremely cruel,&rdquo; he said.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/05\/rome-hosts-annual-march-for-life\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/05\/rome-hosts-annual-march-for-life\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/05\/rome-hosts-annual-march-for-life\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rome hosts annual March for Life"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20100\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}