By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman
SALAMANCA, Spain, September 14, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Famed disabled athlete Enrique Sánchez-Guijo prayed for the right to life during his speech announcing the opening the annual fair for the city of Salamanca last Thursday.
Addressing the Virgin Mary under her local title of the Virgin of Vega, Sanchez-Guijo asked her to “safeguard the right to life, inherent in every human being, from beginning to end.”
To this he added the “right to live in freedom, exiling every type of terrorism and oppression.”
Sánchez-Guijo, who is blind, is well known throughout Spain for his multiple gold and silver medals and world-record-breaking runs at the Paralympics – athletic contests held every four years for disabled people – during the 1990s. He is now retired from sports and works in marketing at the ONCE corporation in Spain.
Before the speech, Sáznchez-Guijo attended mass with other dignitaries and city officials in the city cathedral, where public prayers to the Virgin Mary were also offered for the protection of the women of Spain, in their home responsibilities and jobs.
Despite Sánchez-Guijo's fame throughout Spain, most of the country's major newspapers ignored his remarks, with the exception of the more conservative newspaper ABC.