Shrine in Mexico dedicated to the memory of aborted children

The Mexican pro-life association Los Inocentes de María (Mary's Innocent Ones) dedicated a shrine in Guadalajara last month in memory of aborted babies. The shrine, called Rachel's Grotto, also serves as a place of reconciliation between parents and their deceased children.

In a dedication ceremony on August 15, the Archbishop Emeritus of Guadalajara, Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, blessed the shrine and stressed the importance of promoting "the awareness that abortion is a terrible crime that frustrates the fate of many human beings ".

Speaking with ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, Brenda del Río, founder and director of Los Inocentes de María, explained that the idea was inspired by a similar project by a choral group that created a cave next door. to the chapel of adoration of a monastery in Frauenberg, southern Germany.

The name “Rachel's Grotto derives from the passage from the Gospel of Matthew where King Herod, trying to kill the Child Jesus, massacres all the children of two years and younger in Bethlehem:“ A cry was heard to Ramah, sobbing and loud moans; Rachel wept for her children and would not be consoled, since they were gone “.

The main objective of Los Inocentes de María, Del Río said, "is to fight violence against children, both in the womb and in infancy, infants and up to two, five, six years, when unfortunately many are murdered. ”, Some are even“ thrown into the sewers, into vacant lots ”.

So far, the association has buried 267 premature babies, babies and toddlers.

The sanctuary is part of a project by the association to build the first cemetery for aborted children in Latin America.

Del Rio explained that the parents of aborted babies will be able to go to the sanctuary "to be reconciled with their child, to be reconciled with God".

Parents can name their child by handwriting it on a small piece of paper to be transcribed on a clear plastic tile placed on the walls next to the shrine.

"These acrylic tiles will be stuck on the walls, with all the names of the children," he said, and "there is a small letterbox for the father or mother to leave a letter for their child."

For Del Río, the impact of abortion in Mexico extends to the country's high rate of homicides, disappearances and human trafficking.

“This is contempt for human life. The more abortion is promoted, the more the human person, human life, is despised, ”he said.

“If we Catholics do nothing in the face of such a terrible evil, a genocide, then who will speak? Will the stones speak if we remain silent? She asked.

Del Río explained that the Inocentes de María project goes to marginalized areas dominated by crime, in search of pregnant women and new mothers. They offer seminars for these women in local Catholic churches, teaching them about human dignity and development in the womb.

“We are sure, men and women alike - because we also have men here with us helping us - that we are saving lives with these seminars. Telling them, “Your baby is not your enemy, it's not your problem”, means restoring a whole life, ”said the director of the association.

For Del Río, if children from an early age receive from their mothers "the message that they are precious, precious, a work of God, unique and unrepeatable", then in Mexico "we will have less violence, because a child who is suffering, we say to mothers, it is a child who will end up on the street and in prison “.

In Los Inocentes de María, he said, they tell parents who have abortions and seek reconciliation with God and their children, that "you will meet your children the moment you die, radiant, beautiful, splendid, they will come to welcome you. at the gates of heaven