Ahead of the March for Life in Berlin scheduled for Saturday, the Chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference has called for vigilance. “Anyone who wishes to protect human life cannot at the same time pit people against one another, exclude them or relativise their dignity,” said Bishop Heiner Wilmer in his message to the march participants, published on Monday. Christian protection of life applies to every human being and recognises neither a hierarchy of human life nor a distinction between valuable and less valuable lives.
Wilmer emphasised that the Christian ‘yes’ to life is always also a ‘yes’ to a society based on solidarity: “A society is humane when it makes room for unborn life, shares burdens and leaves no one behind,” writes the bishop.
According to Wilmer, the demonstration serves as a reminder of society’s fundamental duty to respect, protect and promote human life in all its stages. This commitment to life is not limited to individual issues. Pope Leo XIV expressed it “with remarkable clarity”: “Anyone who says, ‘I am against abortion, but I am in favour of the death penalty’, is not truly in favour of life.” Anyone who stands up for life must therefore keep the bigger picture in mind, said the Bishop of Münster.
“It is precisely where life is vulnerable, where people have no voice or where their right to exist is called into question, that it becomes clear how seriously we take human dignity.” This includes the protection of unborn children as well as care for the sick and the elderly, accompanying the dying, the rejection of the death penalty, support for people in need, and advocacy for peace and reconciliation.
