French Bishops Call for Fasting and Prayer as France Enshrines Abortion in Constitution 

“Let us pray that our fellow citizens will rediscover the taste for life, for giving it, for receiving it, for accompanying it, for having and raising children,” the bishops concluded.

The bishops said that France “would have honored itself by instead including the promotion of the rights of women and children” in its constitution. 

“Of all European countries, even Western Europe, France is the only one where the number of abortions has not decreased and has even increased in the last two years,” the statement said. 

The bishops “gladly relay the call made by several Catholic movements to fast and prayer” in response to the measure, they wrote. Following the French Senate’s passage of the measure last week, the bishops had said in a statement that abortion “remains an affront to life in its beginnings” and that “it cannot be seen solely from the perspective of women’s rights.”

“The bishops’ conference will be vigilant with respect to the freedom of choice of parents who decide, even in difficult situations, to keep their child and the freedom of conscience of doctors and all health care personnel, whose courage and commitment it commends,” the prelates said at the time. 

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Daniel Payne is a senior editor at Catholic News Agency. He previously worked at the College Fix and Just the News. He lives in Virginia with his family.