Patroness of the Unborn
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The Memorial inspires us to pray for the eternal rest of the unborn children and for the consolation of their parents.
It calls us to become evermore faithful heralds and agents of the Gospel of Life, especially by respecting the life-giving nature of the conjugal union, by safeguarding the life of the unborn in the womb, and by opposing, with all our strength, the cloning of human life and the destruction of human embryos as most grave violations of God’s plan for procreation and human life.
As part of the Shrine’s mission to promote the Gospel of Life, the Church’s teachings are visibly incorporated in the Memorial to the Unborn. Four bronze plaques, bearing excerpts from the writings of Pope St. John Paul II, showcase Church doctrine on contraception, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and the dignity of human life. These offer all who pass by the opportunity to learn, to reflect, and to pray for greater reverence for every life, especially the most vulnerable.
The Dignity of Human Life
Also located in the Memorial to the Unborn arcade are four bronze educational plaques which state the teaching of the Catholic Church on the topics of contraception, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and the dignity of human life, all excerpted from the writings of Blessed Pope John Paul II.
The Evil of Abortion
Cardinal Burke discusses the crime of abortion as the greatest evil of our time.
“The Memorial to the Unborn eloquently expresses the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe: God’s all-merciful love toward all of His children from the moment of their conception. Even as God Himself chose to be conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, as the first moment of His greatest act of love of us, so He has taught us the inviolable dignity of all human life. Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of America and Star of the New Evangelization, is, in a particular way, the Mother of the Unborn.”
– Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, 12 December 2008