STATEMENT BY MOTHER TERESA SENT
TO THE CAIRO INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT ON
SEPT. 9, 1994
"I speak today to you from my heart - to each person in all the nations
of the world, to people with power to make big decisions as well as to
all the mothers, fathers and children in the cities, towns and villages.
"Each one of us is here today because we have been loved by God who
created us and our parents who accepted and cared enough to give us life.
Life is the most beautiful gift of God. That is why it is so painful to
see what is happening today in so many places around the world: life is
being deliberately destroyed by war, by violence, by abortion. And we have
been created by God for greater things - to love and be loved.
"I have said often, and I am sure of it, that the greatest destroyer
of peace in the world today is abortion. If a mother can kill her own child,
what is there to stop you and me from killing each other? The only one
who has the right to take life is the One who has created it. Nobody else
has that right: not conference, no government.
"I am sure that deep down in your heart, you know that the unborn child
is a human being loved by God, like you and me. How can anyone knowing
that, deliberately destroy that life? It frightens me to think of all the
people who kill their
conscience so that they can perform an abortion. When we die, we will
come face to face with God, the Author of life. Who will give an account
to God for the millions and millions of babies who were not allowed to
have the chance to live, to experience loving and being loved?
"God has created a world big enough for all the lives He wishes to be
born. It is only our hearts that are not big enough to want them and accept
them. If all the money that is being spent on finding ways to kill people
was used instead to feed them and house them and educate them - how beautiful
that would be. We are too often afraid of the sacrifices we might have
to make. But where there is love, there is always sacrifice. And when we
love until it hurts, there is joy and peace.
"If there is a child that you don't want or can't feed or educate, give
that child to me. I will not refuse any child. I
will give a home, or find loving parents for him or for her. Weare
fighting abortion by adoption and have given thousands of
children to caring families. And it is so beautiful to see the love
and unity that a child brings to a family.
"The child is the most beautiful gift of God to a family, to a nation.
Let us never refuse this gift of God. My prayer for each one of you is
that you may always have the faith to see and love God in each person including
the unborn. God bless you."