Bogotá, Colombia, Mar 12, 2006 / 22:00 pm
The community of Salesians in Bogotá, Colombia, have chosen the theme “Defend the life of the unborn with me,” in organizing a massive Pilgrimage for Life, due to take place on April 2nd.
The event, thegroup announced, will begin with a Mass at the Parish of the Divine Child and will be followed a procession with the famous statue of the Divine Child— which will be carried through the streets of Bogota for the first time since 1937—to the Plaza de Bolivar, where Cardinal Pedro Rubiano Saenz will celebrate another Mass.
The Divine Child devotion is the most popular among Colombians. Each week more than 40,000 pilgrims visit the shrine. During a visit to the shrine in 1997, Mother Angelica, the foundress of the Eternal World Television Network (EWTN), said the statue of the Child Jesus spoke to her and gave her the inspiration to build a church dedicated to Him in central Alabama.
The Salesian Work of the Child Jesus, which cares for the statue, “hopes this historic procession will become an opportunity for the people of Bogota to make a public expression of their faith in Jesus Christ and show their Catholic commitment to the defense of human life in Colombia.”