Palma calls a stop to ‘unjust killings’

CEBU, Philippines — Life should be protected and preserved "from the womb to the tomb," thus all unjust killings should be stopped, so said Catholic Church leader Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma in his carefully-worded homily yesterday dawn at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.

“These experiences of threat to life, experiences of killings, we hope that this will end because we love our country and God loves us as a people… We have to protect life from the womb to the tomb,” Palma said during his 16-minute homily.

A Mass was specially celebrated yesterday in line with the Church-initiated nationwide movement that calls for the protection of life. The liturgical celebration followed after the foot procession from Fuente Osmeña to Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral that was attended by thousands of Catholics, mostly Marian devotees.

The procession dubbed “Walk for Life” is a simultaneous activity endorsed by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines happening in different dioceses across the country.

Here in the Cebu archdiocese, the procession is facilitated by the Commission on the Laity and organized in a different manner since the event also seeks to invoke the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary through the Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of Cebu, thus the name, “Walk for Life with Mary.”

Palma said the Blessed Virgin Mary, being the “mother of life,” brings a message to people to put a stop to the killings because God is not pleased with all these.

He recalled that the Our Lady of Guadalupe also sent this same message when Mary appeared in Mexico where there had been a practice of offering the lives of thousands of people made as sacrifice due to a wrong notion that this will appease God and this will bring them fortune in their lives.

Palma said one could easily accept if one passes away due to old age or illness, or if one’s death is by God’s will, but an untimely death is more painful especially if one is killed due to unjust reasons.

He emphasized that the “Walk for Life” activity is a declaration of the faithful that “life is a gift and it is a precious and sacred gift.”

He said God is the source of life and He only has the will to take it back from the person. And at the same time, the Lord is also the fulfillment of the person’s life as he is ought to return to Jesus, he added.

He said a man could not own or take one’s or the other person’s life in his own hands.

Amid the series of killings in Cebu, the 67-year-old prelate became vocal on the Church's stance on the government's war on drugs and underscored on the value of preserving human life and dignity. (FREEMAN)