SAN JOSÉ, August 7, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Bishop José Francisco Ulloa, the bishop of Cártago, Costa Rica, asked thousands of Catholic pilgrims to oppose the two measures that the country’s legislators are seeking to approve, which would legalize abortion, in vitro fertilization, the morning-after pill, and same-sex “marriages.”
During his homily in the celebration of the Costan Rican holiday of Mary, Virgin of Angels, the bishop said: “There is a scorning of human life from its conception. The unborn have their rights torn away, and people don’t believe that the mystery of life goes beyond that.”
He said that IVF and gay “marriage” were “horrors against life.”
Although IVF is prohibited in Costa Rica, the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR), with its headquarters in San José, requires that the practice be made available to those who request it.
According to the IACHR, Costa Rica is violating basic human rights by banning assisted reproduction. The country may face trial before the Inter-American Court if it does not comply with the commission’s requirements to legalize such procedures.
“We are failing to see the wholeness and integrity of human beings,” the bishop added.
“The threat of the culture of death,” he warned, “is that it “destroys society and common welfare.”
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This year, president Laura Chinchilla, along with Congress president Luis Fernando Mendoza and Supreme Court President Zarela Villanueva, attended the celebration and heard Mass in order to consecrate themselves and their office duties to God and the Virgin Mary.
“I offer God Almighty my thoughts and decisions, to use them well for the good of our nation and to be conscious of the Ten Commandments,” they said.
Juan de Dios Calderón, the general coordinator for the Network of Evangelists and Prophets, has called his fellow evangelicals, as well as all Catholics, to a march that will take place on August 10 to ask legislators to respect the family “according to God’s design.”
It is expected that this march for “Family Rights and Peace” will see the participation of no less than 30,000 people.
Calderón will collect their signatures to be sent to Chinchilla and Mendoza.
The Costa Rican holiday, known as the “Romería,” is held every year during the first two days of August in the city of Cártago. Around 800,00 pilgrims travel each year from all over the country to visit the Virgin of Angels, the country’s patron.