The bishop of Getafe, Ginés García Beltrán, baptized fifteen children rescued from abortion this Saturday at the parish of the Holy Christ of Mercy, in Boadilla del Monte (Madrid). They are the children of women who were considering abortion and went ahead with their pregnancy after receiving help from the Más Futuro Association and the Juan Pablo II Rescuers, whose volunteers accompany the bishop in the celebration.
According to the Diocese, the event has special significance this year for the association, which expects to reach 9,000 rescued babies. Its president, Marta Velarde, highlighted the work of the volunteers, especially the young people, whom she considers a fundamental piece in continuing the accompaniment.
For Más Futuro, baptism does not close the path. Velarde explains that it is one more step in a process that, in many cases, extends over years, and that returning to God is fundamental in the work with women who suffer the consequences of post-abortion syndrome. Through the Caminando Project, the association accompanies some of them in their personal and spiritual reconstruction. Many need, according to its president, years of conversion and treatment, and the decision to approach the faith is always in the hands of each woman.
Among the fifteen children receiving baptism is the son of a 23-year-old Spanish woman who has gone through five abortions and whom the association has been accompanying for six years. The experience has led Más Futuro to expand its work beyond mothers with the Juntos Project, which seeks to promote family reunification and create a stable environment around women and their children. Some of them have received scholarships so their children can study in Catholic schools.
The Juan Pablo II Rescuers work discreetly in the vicinity of centers where abortions are performed, offering an alternative to the women who go to them. “Abortion has no vacations,” summarizes Velarde to explain why the network of volunteers provides attention throughout the year, including weekends and vacation periods: sometimes they have very little time to talk with a woman before her appointment for an abortion.
The baptisms of children rescued from abortion have been celebrated every year in the diocese of Getafe for more than a decade. In last year’s edition, the bishop baptized seventeen children at the parish of San Josemaría Escrivá in Alcorcón, and until then more than three hundred had already been baptized in these celebrations. This year’s event comes a few weeks after the Ministry of Health presented an institutional campaign on abortion under the slogan “Everything will be fine.”
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