The world needs to find reasons to be more humane. Christmas, which concludes this Sunday with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, is one of those powerful reasons: God teaches us to be human by becoming one of us. During Advent, the time of preparation for the great feast of the birth of Jesus, the central figure was a pregnant woman, carrying in her womb the Savior of the world. We saw her visit Elizabeth on that page of the Gospel that is a true hymn to motherhood. The Son of Mary, an embryo only a few days old, sanctifies with his hidden presence his cousin John the Baptist, who was by then a well-formed six-month-old baby. Later, in Bethlehem, we contemplated again the marvel of the birth of the Word Incarnate. Once more we find ourselves before an exaltation of the mystery of human life which, at the same time, was threatened from the beginning by the wrath of King Herod, who attempted to kill the Author of Life without conscience or compassion. Nevertheless, Life overcomes and today we celebrate the manifestation of Christ as the beloved Son of the Father, formed in the womb as Isaiah told us, to be a covenant of the people and a light for the nations.
A pregnant mother, a newborn child, a powerful man trying to take the baby's life... One would hope that, two thousand years after those events, the world, especially our Western world with its Christian roots, would have finally learned its lesson. However, it is sad, tragic, and terrible to see that in the 21st century we continue to stumble over the same stone, seeking the elimination of defenseless human lives. A few days ago I read a news story with this headline: "Abortion Was the Number One Cause of Death in 2021". The information in the story gave some figures that I will now share with you. Obviously, these figures are not "revealed truth", but I think they can help us to get an idea of the magnitude of the silent genocide that is taking place before our eyes.
According to this research, more than 42% of all total deaths in 2021 were of children in the womb. Last year, 2021, approximately 101.5 million people died. More than 42 million were aborted children.
Dear brothers and sisters, the evil of abortion has reached apocalyptic proportions. With no other subject is our hypocrisy as a society more evident. As St. John Paul II said, "What sense is there in speaking of the dignity of man, of his fundamental rights, if we do not protect an innocent person, or even facilitate the means or services, private or public, to destroy defenseless human lives?" (November 2, 1982)
I cannot help but draw a sad comparison with the current situation with covid. In the last two years, we have lived through a terrible time with everything that has happened in the wake of the coronavirus. The word pandemic has been used to talk about the seriousness of the disease. Countries have invested extraordinary resources to curb and mitigate the impact of the virus. This catastrophe has affected the existence of probably everyone on the planet. Many have the feeling that life in our societies has been completely turned upside down. Many, many people have died, and are dying, and almost all of us know someone or have a family member who has died as a result of the coronavirus. If this has been done by a virus that, according to data from the World Health Organization, killed approximately 3.5 million people last year, what should the public authorities and society as a whole do to eradicate an evil such as abortion, which in the same period of time has taken the lives of 42.5 million children? For every victim of coronavirus in 2021, 12 children died in the womb. If with the coronavirus, which counts among its victims almost 4 million dead, we use the word “pandemic”, what term should we use for abortion, with more than 40 million innocent human losses? Something has to be really wrong with us if as individuals we end up getting used to this tragedy, and as a society, we describe this evil as a right (reproductive right) instead of using the right word, genocide. Lord, have mercy on us!
Brothers and sisters: today is the Baptism of the Lord. We celebrate the fact that God, in His Son Jesus, wants to have a personal relationship with every person who comes into this world. The supernatural life of grace develops only on the basis of a natural life that demands, as a first condition, the very possibility of its existence. Without life, there could be no Life. May the Christmas celebration which we conclude today, and which exalt a Child who is God, a Child who needs care and attention like any other conceived child, teach us to protect without condition or exception, to always venerate and cherish in every circumstance the gift of human life, from conception to natural death.
