Dear friends,
Almost forty years ago, here in Berlin, a world leader stood at the Brandenburg Gate and spoke some famous words about the Berlin Wall. The wall separated brothers and sisters who belonged to the same people.
Addressing another powerful world leader, he said: Open this gate! Tear down this wall!
Today, I want to speak about another wall – and about what can open it.
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For someone from a former communist country – Romania, in my case – the Berlin Wall has a special significance. It is a symbol of what can happen when those who have power decide how much dignity, freedom and rights those without power are allowed to have.
The human person is the crown of creation and is capable of myriads works. But we cannot give humanity or dignity to other human beings. These are bestowed on them from conception. We recognize them – or we deny them.
And today there is a wall separating protected humanity from disposable humanity: the wall between the born and the unborn.
Behind this wall, we, the adults, as societies, dehumanize the unborn. This has resulted in the greatest denial of human rights in history: even by the lowest estimate, the lives of more than one billion of our brothers and sisters have been intentionally taken!
The main ideological framework for the intentional destruction of unborn human beings is the denial of their humanity.
This is why I call this war the Unhuman War.
So I address those who are pro-life, pro-choice, undecided, scientists, philosophers, social workers, theologians, and especially those who pray:
Tear down the wall between the born and the unborn! We are all human beings.
Tweet This: The main ideological framework for the intentional destruction of unborn human beings is the denial of their humanity.
Friends,
This wall is not built only in laws, institutions or ideologies. It is also built inside our own hearts.
Indeed, I can see it in my own heart: the temptation to avoid the burden of my neighbor.
That’s why the Unhuman War cannot ultimately be won by greater power. It can be won only by sacrificial love.
Only through love and grace can we refrain from stripping anyone of their humanity. Only in this way can we see every human being as a human being.
This wall will not be torn down by powerful leaders, but by each of us, one by one.
Each person’s love is the real power that can open a gate.
Those gates will eventually bring down the wall between the born and the unborn.
So, let us love every human being, including – and I mean this – including those who choose to strip others of humanity, and the wall will be torn down.
Let's do this together!
Editor's note: Teodora Paul is president of Students for Life Bucharest and involved in the March for Life in Romania. She was invited to address the March for Life Berlin on September 19. This article is reprinted with permission.
