Cardinal Müller urges Catholics to ‘speak up’ for the unborn

(LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Gerhard Müller has called on Catholics to attend the March for Life in Vienna, Austria, and other pro-life rallies across Europe and to “speak up and bear witness” for the unborn.

The former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith sent a video message to the March for Life in Austria. The transcript was published by Corrigenda.

“Dear Austrians, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, please come to the March for Life in Vienna,” Müller said. “These Marches for Life take place throughout Europe, organized by people of Christian faith. And so I ask you to bear witness to life – not only in Vienna, but also in many other cities across Europe.”

“God loved the world and gave His own Son for it, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. That is why our Catholic faith, our Christian life, is not simply something to be kept in the quiet privacy of our own hearts, just for ourselves in the sacristy – as the totalitarian systems of recent times would have had it.”

“National Socialism and Communism persecuted the Church and eliminated religious freedom,” the cardinal stressed. “Religious freedom also means that we do not merely practice it in the private sphere – in the liturgy, in the Church – but that we also have a mission to serve the world, as the Second Vatican Council emphasized.”

“We have a mission in the world, as the Holy Father Leo XIV also emphasized in his latest encyclical: The Church is the advocate of humanity and human dignity. That is why I can only encourage every Catholic to speak up and bear witness when the stones are silent.”

“We will shout it from the rooftops: Every human life has infinite value!” Müller emphasized, before adding:

Everyone is a son or daughter of God. We profess this, even when we are persecuted or discriminated against by the ideologies of our century – by the descendants of the communists and the Nazis who seek to restrict our religious freedom. Who seek to forbid us from praying for life, even in front of these murder clinics, where human life is destroyed.

The organizers of the Austrian March for Life, which will take place in Vienna on October 10, have called attention to plans by members of the Austrian government to implement so-called “protection zones” around abortion clinics. Praying and other pro-life activities would be forbidden within a certain radius around abortion facilities, similar to “buffer zone” laws in the U.K.

Müller warned that “to abolish religious freedom here is the beginning of a totalitarian, anti-religious system that we must oppose.”

“And I can only call on those active in politics – especially in parties that invoke Christianity or even bear it in their name – not to allow themselves to be seduced by these inhuman ideologies, but to stand firmly by the Christian position and implement it in politics as well: That every human life – regardless of age, or whether someone is sick or healthy – has an unconditional value; that the individual comes first, and the citizen takes precedence over the state.”

“The state must serve the people and not allow itself to be turned into an instrument of a misanthropic ideology,” he continued.

“So speak up, take to the streets, profess our faith and our convictions, and pray for the conversion of misguided politicians and ideologues.”

“I pray for you that your testimony will have a powerful impact,” Müller concluded.